Black Mountain have shared the riff-filled and synthy “Future Shade” today to announce their upcoming album, Destroyer, which will be out May 24th via Jagjaguwar. Stephen McBean Says this of the riffy track, “ travelled around the world then hit the bong with a chorus a year and a half later,” says Stephen McBean. “A last attempt at double frosting produced a chorus on chorus death match. Anxiety is the new heavy metal.”
Black Mountain’s Stephen McBean turned 16 after Woodstock but before Varg started burning down Norwegian churches. And yet, until just two short years ago, McBean had lived his entire adolescence and adult life without a proper driver’s license, that first and most coveted ticket to personal independence. Black Mountain’s new album, Destroyer, is imbued with all that wild-ass freedom and newfound agency (and anxiety and fear) that comes with one’s first time behind the wheel.
Destroyer, named after the discontinued single-run 1985 Dodge Destroyer muscle car, is structured around the feeling of driving a hot rod. The album exists in the middle of the early-to-mid 80s Los Angeles war between punk and hair metal – it’s exhilarating, spirited, and dangerous. Throughout, youthful themes run rampant: “Boogie Lover” cruises down the Sunset Strip, “Horns Arising” is a fill-up at a desert gas station just in time to see a UFO hovering near a mesa, and “High Rise” rounds out a sense of teenage discovery.
To create Destroyer, McBean shacked himself up in his rehearsal space and invited over friends from the endless rock’n’roll highway, bringing to life 22 songs. While some were laid back into shallow graves to dig up once again at a later date, the others were left above ground and polished and given life, some transformed by longtime band member Jeremy Schmidt. This generation of Black Mountain also sees new members Rachel Fannan (Sleepy Sun) and Adam Bulgasem (Dommengang & Soft Kill) as well as familiar collaborators Kliph Scurlock (Flaming Lips), Kid Millions (Oneida) and John Congleton (St. Vincent, Swans). Collectively, there’s a renewed vitality to Black Mountain on Destroyer — a seasoned, veteran of heady hard rock that’s found new, young muscles to flex and roads to explore.
Destroyer Tracklist:
1. Future Shade
2. Horns Arising
3. Closer To The Edge
4. High Rise
5. Pretty Little Lazies
6. Boogie Lover
7. Licensed To Drive
8. FD 72
Black Mountain Tour Dates
Wed. March 19 – Santa Cruz, CA @ The Atrium @ The Catalyst
Wed. March 20 – Reno, NV @ Jub Jub’s Thirst Parlor
Thu. March 21 – Boise, ID @ Treefort Music Festival
Sat. March 23 – Bozeman, MT @ The Filling Station
Sun. March 24 – Spokane, WA @ Knitting Factory
Tue. March 26 – Bellingham, WA @ Wild Buffalo
Wed. March 27 – Bend, OR @ Midtown Ballroom/Domino Room/Annex
Thu. March 28 – Sacramento, CA @ Holy Diver
Fri. March 29 – San Diego, CA @ Brick by Brick
Sat. March 30 – Los Angeles, CA @ Catch One
Fri. May 25 – Tucson, AZ @ 191 Toole
Sat. May 26 – Pioneertown, CA @ Stoned and Dusted
