ALBUM REVIEW: Everything In Sight – Snake Mountain Revival
The lucid imaginations and impressive vistas of stoner rock aren’t sounds that often see the warming glow of the limelight. The genre’s slow-shifting behemoths, think KING BUFFALO, GREEN LUNG and ALL THEM WITCHES, will often stir up some buzz for the converted but never seem to get themselves on the central line ahead of the hype train’s departure. This is, of course, a dire shame. For fans of doom and sludge, the genre provides similar hallmarks – sludgy guitars and TV static levels of distortion – only with helpings of desert dirt and slightly less depressing lyricism; how this wouldn’t appeal to the masses remains a mystery. Emerging with potential answers to such a question is Virginia-based trio SNAKE MOUNTAIN REVIVAL and their first full-length trip through the arid sand plains; Everything In Sight. Could this be another worthy claim to the stoner rock cause or will this be yet another duplicitous mirage on our search for answers?
The answer is a frustrating affair. Everything In Sight is on the very cusp of greatness that the genre currently demands, yet its slow-burning ‘grower, not shower’ qualities are fatally afflicted by an assortment of begrudging nitpicks. It’s not so much a ‘stuck in second gear’, ‘stumble at the last hurdle’ or any other number of metaphorical clichés, there are simply too many small irritants throughout that keep the album out of greatness’ reach. While these points of grievance shall be expanded on in time it’s important to first acknowledge everything the record does right, which is, to put it lightly, a hell of a lot. Whether you’re a sand-weathered genre veteran or a first-time wanderer, SNAKE MOUNTAIN REVIVAL have done the desert plains proud.
Under the microscope, Everything In Sight is an obvious summation of its numerous forebears – yet, this is never distasteful but merely a wonderful unity of the genre’s history made one by the band’s own personal flair. We’re talking the odd bit of BLACK SABBATH, THE VINTAGE CARAVAN, ALL THEM WITCHES, QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE and even the odd erratic noodle from KING GIZZARD AND THE LIZARD WIZARD. Place these names in a world of reverb and heavy distortion – with simply gorgeous tones offered by electric and bass guitar – and you have the foundation of what makes Everything In Sight such a joy to sink into.
This experience, this voyage through the band’s sonic and psychedelic dunes, leaves expectations thoroughly in the sand too, with no intention of settling for a simple A-B experience. The album jumps from tranquillity and serenity (Just A Feeling), to moments of sudden bloodthirst (Graveyard Grove), to the long-drawn roller coasters that the genre is practically indebted to (Everything In Sight). Each is executed with confident prowess and, reinforcing the work started on their two EPs, SNAKE MOUNTAIN REVIVAL achieve that imperative benchmark of finding their slot within the genre and then suitably running with it miles beyond with listeners hurriedly trying to stay afoot.
When we’ve finally managed to catch up and cleared the sand from our sandals there’s a hell of a lot to feel across the eight-track runtime which incidentally winds up being the record’s strongest arm. Chapters two through four (Moon Baron, Just A Feeling and Graveyard Grove) are wonderfully immersive experiences where sticking your head in the sand is actually sound advice. The former is a bountiful, riff-replete throat-strainer where Iommi-esque chugs marry vocalist/bassist Ryan Chandler’s sky-splitting cries that feel at home amidst a pitch-black night in the dense woodland (as does the latter with its own tale of murder and terror). Just A Feeling, however, appropriately transports listeners to a world without strife with a gentle assembly of guitar lines quite capable of soothing the most restless of minds. Whether the inspiration for such moving material came from the band’s own psychedelic experimentation would be no shock – the crux however is that it can make listeners ‘feel’, which is not something easily forgotten as the finale Valley Of Madness fades to a fuzzy haze.
So why isn’t Everything In Sight the genre’s next great flagship debut? As mentioned, the reasons are merely irritating little points of hindrance that many may not even take issue with. Just A Feeling, for instance, could have been in contention for SOTY but its progression is stunted and never reaches a satisfactory climax, a few bars from the title track’s lead work is a little too familiar to KING GIZZARD’s Nonagon Infinity and latter number Water Moccasin frankly doesn’t fulfil its role as a late-stage instrumental and is even plagued by the odd questionable solo. Bug-bears they may be but bugging they remain – a slightly annoying tarnish on an otherwise beautiful canvas.
Putting the nittiest of picks aside, one would be ill-advised to throw Everything In Sight into the pile of ‘non-starters’ on account of what are quite obviously teething problems. The headlines are that the new generation of stoner-psych rock nomads will keep the genre in well-kept hands and SNAKE MOUNTAIN REVIVAL have shown they are well on their way to join the ranks of the desert pilgrims that came before. Everything In Sight is a vibrant, vast and unyielding landscape that any set of ears will enjoy conquering.
Rating: 7/10
Everything In Sight is set for release on November 19th via Rebel Waves Records.
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