Endless

Doom metal bands are a rarity in modern metal. Countless artists try to find the secret Sabbath spot to no avail. While some do come close, few are able to make their music enticing enough whilst maintaining the ominous nature of doom metal. This might be rare but it is still achievable. With this in mind you can understand why everyone in the metal scene releases a sigh of delight when Chicago, home to renowned pop punk acts such as Fall Out Boy and Rise Against, give birth to modern psychedelic-doomsters: Mount Salem.

Originally released independently as an EP in 2013, Mount Salem signed to Metal Blade Labels and recorded two new tracks, and now brings us the new and improved full length version of Endless. The aptly named Good Times is still the album opener and immediately kicks off into an avalanche of, now refined, grooves. Emily Kopplin’s addition as both singer and organist to the thunderous riffs give the genre a new psychedelic dimension to doom and consequently, she steals the spotlight throughout the album.

The Tower has a nice touch of continuity between Mount Salem’s ‘old’ and new songs as it is one of the tracks to be recorded after their record signing. Kopplin’s vocals echo through your brain once more above the catchy southern-like riffs from Mark Hewett (bass), and Kyle Morrison (guitar). However it is the crushingly heavy ending that raises both your eyebrows and the bar to how heavy they can possibly get on this album.

The heavier face of Mount Salem is heavily influenced by Black Sabbath. Full Moon relies upon an atmosphere reminiscent to Planet Caravan and the main riff sounds suspiciously like the haunt of Black Sabbath yet they manipulate it into their own soporific sound; also evident on tracks like the eerie Hysteria to send shivers down your spine whilst leading single Lucid gives you no time to refresh from the previous song and instantly sets a mid paced bluesy plod. The organ led interludes brings you in and out of conciseness that evoke to a dreamlike exposure found in bands such as Blood Ceremony.

The instrumental Mescaline I sounds like it came directly out of a cowboy movie however it is clear that it is a build up the second new brutalizing Mescaline II. Greeted by an onslaught of bass heavy doom riffs and Chicago blues- Kopplin’s effortless cries are at their finest. Cody Davidson’s cohesive drumbeats lead The End through a nightmarish passage of stoner rock and doom laden grooves to end the album in crushing style with a little reminder that there are clear psychedelic influences.

Here we have a band that have been around only since 2012 and are already bring a new vision to doom metal. By mixing doomy essentials with a large focus on twisting psychedelia topped with a unique set of lungs fronting the band, Mount Salem have proved Endless to be one of the best doom debuts to come out of the mist in years.

ls I occasionally see at Metal shows that look bored and unmotivated to be there and don’t really do anything but stand around silently before gravitating back to their boyfriend or girlfriend. But this is a music scene, not a fashion scene or a dating scene. Yes, she’s quite attractive, but what good does that do for the music or for anyone else, really?

Despite having a beautiful organist-slash-vocalist, the presence of Emily Kopplin becomes a double-edged sword for Mount Salem. She provides on the sex appeal for the promo photos and live shows and the ominous church organs give a nice touch to the songs (I think she might be a Type O Negative fan but I don’t know for sure) but her voice isn’t all what the audience anticipates. She isn’t a bad vocalist but by comparison to some of Rock N’ Roll and Heavy Metal’s leading ladies, her musical personality comes off as timid and her voice is flat and cold. She doesn’t take that superficial sex appeal and put it into the way she sings these songs, nearly spoiling killer Rock ditties like “The Tower” and “Mescaline II”. If she’s supposed to be the wild card of the group, why can’t she at least bring something unique or exciting to the table?

She hits the same high notes and melodies on “Endless” over and over again, each one sounding like she is trying harder and harder to reach those notes at every attempt. You can tell that she is going for a singing style to match the 1970’s-era Ozzy Osbourne, who could reach those same exact high notes in the same register. But Ms. Kopplin doesn’t have the same soulful approach to the music even The Prince of Darkness himself can’t each hit those notes anymore. If Kopplin continues forcing her voice to match that sound while she is physically straining herself, she can expect to meet the same fate. Again, I don’t want to say that Kopplin is a bad singer but some vocal lessons will assist her from not blowing her voice out.

I don’t think the musicianship is worth saying too much about either. Its not bad at all but… meh! Its Stoner Rock riffs without any crazy solos or bizarre modern twists on boutique tones and levels. Everything fits right into place as it should be but bass and guitar don’t stick out to me. However, I think the work of Corey Davidson, Mount Salem’s drummer, is fabulous and redeems the strings and organ parts. Bill Ward would be proud.

I am not the only one that feels like there is something else to Mount Salem that is unpleasant. Fans of bands like Castle, Jex Thoth & Blood Ceremony might not even like this re-release. They have already pointed out how painfully obvious it is that the name Mount Salem is a derivative of Witch Mountain and they both play female-fronted 70’s Doom revival. It seems to be a clone of all these other Doom revival bands that was put together by a producer with the unoriginal idea of ‘what if Pentagram had a female vocalist’ and trying to capitalize on the genre’s resurgence in popularity. The fallacy is thinly veiled by the fact that this is coming from Metal Blade Records, one of the bigger record labels for Heavy Metal music.

Mount Salem doesn’t break any molds or ground but they are young and fresh. It will take some time before they become grizzled, callous Doom rockers like their peers. Until then, they will become lost relatively quickly in the shuffle of highly anticipated releases yet to come out in 2014 unless they can pull themselves together by 2015.

(originally published on Metal-Temple,com, 3-4-2014)

Within the past few years, there has been a rise in popularity in music that plays an old school, 70's style of stoner and doom metal, with bands like Orchid, Blood Ceremony and Ghost coming to mind as some of the more well known names at the moment although there are plenty more. And the latest addition to this long list of retro metal bands are fellow Chicago natives Mount Salem. The simply named "Endless" is the debut effort for these guys to put out their own branch of Occultist doom metal to the table and, despite being an EP has the time length to be considered a full length album, and with it's release has already gained a bit of a following and is beginning to make themselves more well known amongst the metal and rock community. And when listening, there is a definite presence to the sound that does warrant some attention.

There are some very thick, very heavy, very sludgy riffs that have a, in a word, groovy vibe to them, making each song this huge wall of sound that, while are heavy, are also both melodic and catchy. Its very familiar ground for Black Sabbath listeners and will undoubtedly appeal to anyone who is into more psychedelic and stoner based music, but another aspect about the sound the sticks out are the vocals which are fantastic. Preformed by Emily Kopplin, she hits some great range with her high, somewhat mournful voice that sounds genuine and passionate and emotive, sounding really beautiful and she shines as the stand out performer of the music. Also adding to it is the organ (also preformed by Kopplin) having a very psychedelic, kinda trippy sound to them and its put into the mix perfectly. This adds a lot of depth to the music, because when they come in, they have a strong presence to them, giving the music an almost eerie, ominous atmosphere. So on a musical level, the EP is very heavy, thick, catchy, easy to follow, easy to understand, as well as eerie and dark sounding, making it instantly enjoyable.

Now that's all well and good, but some things become obvious as one goes through the songs, and that is its lack of variety, lack of ideas and overall lack of identity when comparing it to the many other bands of this genre, and this is where the EP begins to fall apart for me. You see this EP does a lot of good things, but it also lacks a lot that makes a band stand out and lacks certain things that make more than just a superficial form of entertainment. Many of the songs feel the same and follow a very similar structure, they also don't do anything terribly inventive or unique and instead follow a very safe and very typical sound that's very standard in this genre. The result of this is that the band lacks an identity and doesn't stick out and puts them in an original frame that separates them from the rest of the pack, as opposed to other recent bands who play this and do things to separate themselves. For example, two bands I mentioned at the start of this review, Orchid and Blood Ceremony, both play this retro classic metal style, but, with Orchid, there music has a lot of creative riffs and song structures that make it, on a technical level more interesting to listen to, and Blood Ceremony, who while playing a more safe, by the book style, add things like acoustics and flute and some other folk elements to keep the music varied and keep it interesting. Mount Salem on the other hand, plays things very, very traditional and by the book, without ever doing anything at all inventive or creative and never makes any attempt to vary the sound whatsoever. The problem with this is that, once the novelty of the positives I listed earlier wears off, the EP doesn't have much to go back to and I found myself getting a little bored about halfway through it.

"Endless" is a fairly solid first effort, putting out some very entertaining and likable material, but at the same time is also very uniform and a bit too much to the point, making it hard to stay interested after the first few listens and also keeps it lacking in character and identity needed to keep it out of the pack. I do want to see this band's future and see what they do with it as, even though this EP does suffer in the end, these guys show a lot of potential.

It's unfortunate that prior to listening I knew exactly what I'd hear from Mount Salem's debut album. Hell, even the name screams retro doom. Of course they're led by a female vocalist too, and put Mount Salem straight in line with their contemporaries Jex Thoth, Blood Ceremony, and Witch Mountain. I must admit the artwork is a treat here, if entirely typical of the style; but then the same could be said about death metal art or power metal art. Anyway, it's really fucking cool, and reminds me of the illustrations from the Edgar Allan Poe anthologies which used to creep me out as a kid.

I wish the music was as cool as the artwork, but really this isn't half bad. I can tell you for sure Mount Salem don't bring anything new to the table, and I'm sure the steamy vocals, and seventies-style riffing will be familiar to anyone versed in the ways of heavy metal and doom, the way Sabbath rocked it. At least the band seems sincere. This is one of those highly en-vogue styles of music at the moment, with everyone looking to get a slice of the pie without any particular act truly managing to reaffirm or even build upon the previously established values. Clearly Mount Salem brings naught but the influence on their collective sleeves to the table; but the riffs are well channeled, the rhythms are a rollicking, and the vocals both passionate and haunting.

They do verge into sticky, stoner/desert rock type territory however, and I reckon that's something that could be a deciding factor for some. Again, it's an element common of the style, and the end result to me feels more Dazed And Confused than it does Hammer Horror, or more Kyuss than it does Sabbath - despite an obvious attempt to honor the latter. Either way, if you have a love for this type of stuff I'm sure it won't be an issue, and it works in giving the music that sweltering, smoky vibe, especially in "Mescaline"; this could have easily been used in film for an acid trip scene, or even a meeting with a dodgy fortune teller with its shimmering instrumentation and humid atmosphere.

So really, we have an atypical release here, one that should please those with a love for the style, and offer nothing of interest to those who don't. I can't say there's any truly great songwriting here, or other such standout factors, but I'm hardly an expert when it comes to this type of fare. All I can say is that, when compared to what I have heard, this doesn't stack up all to well. Interesting enough, and not all the bad to listen to, but I wouldn't want to hear it again, and as such wouldn't recommend.

Written for The Metal Crypt

One day I took a walk to the old ghost town, went to the place where the church had all burnt down…

Such begins the weird tale of Endless, the 2013 debut effort of Mount Salem, now reissued as a full-length by Metal Blade Records. This curious cult can be found lurking the outskirts of Chicago, prowling the woods for unsuspecting victims. Their bewitching brand of doom is profoundly imprinted with the spirit of Iommi, and is fronted the alluring pipes of evil lady Emily Kopplin.

Kopplin’s passionate voice is backed by the resonant bass of Mark Hewett, the freaky guitarwork of Kyle Morrison, and eerie toms of Cody Davidson. Together they form a collective that proves both infectious and enigmatic. An affinity for ghostly tales and witching rites is brewed together with groovy rhythms, psychotropic solos, and a necromantic organ. From the opening notes of “Good Times”, Mount Salem conjure a groovy and swaggering sermon of riffs.

Coming on the coattails of the doom metal revival, Mount Salem have adapted many tropes of the reinvigorated genre. With a sound that fluctuates between the enchanting psych of Jex Thoth and the resurrected 70s rock fashion embodied in bands like The Devil’s Blood, they are quite easily pinpointed. In order to stand out at such a populous sabbath, the Chicago foursome display an exemplary fondness for lush atmospheres and contagious melodies, exemplified on the creepy crawl of “The End”.

This Metal Blade reissue includes two extra numbers, the fuzz-heavy psychedelicious “Mescaline II” and the monumentally catchy “Full Moon”, an infectious story of occult possession. These addition raises Endless from a good EP to a great inaugural album. To some degree the band seems to be grappling with finding a unique voice, but they certainly make the most of their formula of choice.

Stumbling through the labyrinthine renaissance of old school doom metal can be laborious. Mount Salem provide a fiery lantern in the occasionally murky swamp of the genre. Fans of Blood Ceremony, Jess & The Ancient Ones and Jex Thoth will be properly captivated by Endless. The future seems auspicious for these psychedelic warlocks.


Written for The Metal Observer

American four piece Mount Salem play doom metal with a psychedelic edge, and their debut EP “Endless”, originally self-released, is set to be reissued with two bonus tracks by Metal Blade Records next month, making it long enough where it could really count as a full length release, at over forty minutes.

The band have an excellent female singer in Emily Kopplin, and as such there are bound to be similarities drawn to their female fronted Pysch-Doom contemporaries such as Blood Ceremony, but Mount Salem play this style really well. Emily’s voice is tremendous, really powerful and with a real 60′s style swing to it. Her voice is high pitched, and she reaches some really high notes, she has a really great range. She also plays the organ, which adds a degree of psychedelia to the bands bluesy, Black Sabbath style riffs. It’s a mix that works really well, her beautiful vocals working alongside the heaviness of the guitars, and with the organ their sound its a little trippy. They have a good production, and have a real chemistry as a band, their sound is really tight.

“The Tower”, one of the two new songs is a particularly brilliant track, and at just under six minutes it has everything. Sludgy riffs, a catchy chorus, psychedelic organs over the top, and a fantastic bluesy solo in the middle. “Lucid” is a lot more heavy and sludgy and it has a good dark atmosphere. “Full Moon” has a soft intro, with a bluesy riff and Emily singing well, before kicking into the best riff of the album near the middle, fast and heavy. Mescaline I provides a short psychedelic interlude, with oscilliating organs and lead guitar sounding like something from a Western movie, Ennio Morricone would be proud. Mescaline II kicks the album back into pace with another brilliant sludgy number, and it’s the other new track on this reissue. Closing track “The End” is a really good one, with a really gloomy atmosphere, and a lot of variation throughout, alternating seamlessly between fast and slow, heavy and soft, with fantastic vocals and organs throughout.

The band don’t do all that much that is too new on this release, but the fact they create an atmosphere as good as this, play so tightly, and have such a great singer in the form of Emily means that they could go a long way in the future.

Originally written for swirlsofnoise.com