Cold Blue Mountain Returns with an Epic New Album, The Healer
Chico, California's doom/sludge heavy hitters, Cold Blue Mountain, have returned with a massive new album, The Healer . I reviewed Cold Blue Mountain's second album Old Blood for Popshifter back in 2014 and loved it, still do. The Healer is an unexpected beast. From the first track, “1869,” we have a whole different vibe with this sad, plaintive violin that’s then joined by piano and it builds into this heavy orchestral piece with guitars that very much remind me of Glenn Branca’s guitar symphonies. This is an instrumental track, setting a tone, but not revealing all the twists and turns that lie ahead. The next track, “The Calm,” continued to confound expectations while being wholly compelling for such a short instrumental, the literal “calm” before track 3, “The Storm,” where we get our first vocals. At 11 minutes, “The Storm” is an epic aural adventure. “Something Darker” and “Something Divine” really display how much the band has grown without sacrificing the raw power of...