ALBUM REVIEW: Queen Of Sin – Smoke Mountain
When most families get together they tend to play board games or have movie nights, but that of course is not for everyone. The Florida-based members of the Pitt family (including Sarah on vocals, Lee on guitar and Brian behind the kit) take their time together to create slabs of fuzz driven occult rock under the name of SMOKE MOUNTAIN. The band released their self-titled EP in 2017 to rave reviews before hitting the road and playing a plethora of different shows throughout the US and beyond. Now in 2020 the band have finished up the writing and recording of their debut full length release entitled Queen Of Sin.
The opening notes of the track the eponymous Queen Of Sin sets the tone for the entirety of this release. The heavily distorted, dirty low end bass riff repeats itself for the full duration of the song and resonates in the very pit of your stomach. The tar-thick guitar tone is mixed really well and. Manages to create a blanket of distortion that sits over the booming rhythm section, in perfect contrast the to high pitch vocals from Sarah that echo haunting melodies over the dirge.
The repetitive nature of the music continues in to the following track The Master Serpent with the only change in direction coming from the pace of the song which is lot more upbeat. The groove of the song is infectious and gets things moving in the right direction, with the bridge of the song sounding like it could have come from the hallowed hands of Tony Iommi himself.
At the midway point of this release it becomes apparent that SMOKE MOUNTAIN aren’t a band that wander too far from their blueprint which can feel extremely frustrating at times because when they do, you see just what they are capable of. Midnight Woman is a perfect example of this. The southern rock tinge to the riffs and the tasteful use of wah effects add that little bit of flavour that the album has lacked up until this point and the melody hooks the listener far more than anything else that has come before them so far.
Queen Of Sin is truly an album of two halves. The second of which sees the band really growing in terms of their songwriting and branching out a lot more than the section that preceded it. The song I Walk Alone is a real highlight, boasting some of the strongest vocals on the album showcasing the power of Sarah’s voice, particularly with her lower register. The pace is dialled right back and this helps to add to the grandiose scale of the song as the listener is washed over with wave after wave of fuzz and distortion. The rawness in the production also adds a sense of nostalgia to things as all of the extra feedback and background noise is left in tact, which is refreshing given how squeaky clean and compressed a lot of modern heavy music tends to be.
Towards the back end of the album is the track Deathproof which is quite frankly the star of the show. The tempo of the song is up with the highest on the release with a plethora of heavy riffs and a vocal melody that feels like straight up rock and roll. The chorus of the song itself is ridiculously catchy and the tongue-in-cheek lyrics of “I’m death-proof ‘til I die” shows that the band have a sense of humour despite their doom and gloom instrumental sound. The drum work on this track is also some of the best on the album with some interesting fills thrown in the bridge and some claps included as well for good measure.
SMOKE MOUNTAIN are a band that know how to write good songs. There are no poor ones to speak of on the entirety of Queen Of Sin. The issue with this album is in the track order as the start of the album feels as though it drags a little, with almost too much repetition and not enough variety. However, the second half more than makes up for the slow start and SMOKE MOUNTAIN look like a band that are going to constantly grown and improve.
Rating: 7/10
Queen of Sin is out now via Argonauta Records.
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