I’m not usually a fan of live videos. It’s not that they bother me, it’s just that there’s often very little added value and so, I end up listening to the studio version of most tracks I love. This is not the case with Mountain Dust‘s “Stop Screaming”, off of their sophomore from earlier this year, Seven Storms. When its live video landed in my inbox, recorded by the band at the Corona Theatre in Montreal, I was immediately taken by the tone, execution, and raw intensity of the music. It was mostly the main vocals, raw and burning on this rendition of the track. The track led me to listen to the album, upon which I found a delightful release filled with a mix of desert, blues and stoner rock, alive with Southern vibes even though it was from Canada. Head on below to check out “Stop Screaming”, my own egress into the band’s music.
Can you say “hot dang” because hot dang! Everything on this track just comes together beautifully in the live setting; the bass is thick, pronounced and present while the guitar tones beautifully screech around the impressive venue. As mentioned above however, the vocals steal the show; check out 5:25 for an impressively powerful transition from murmured lows to a robust screams that should reach right into your stomach and twist. It’s moments like these that make Seven Storms as good as it is, filled with an energy that transforms the calmer desert rock leads into meaty riffs and throaty vocal passages.
Add in a lap guitar, plenty of warm lights, expressive drums, and you have Seven Storms and, indeed, Mountain Dust itself, in a nutshell. If you’re interested in fuzzy riffs, blistering solos, soaring vocals, and everything which comes with a good stoner album pulled off incredibly well, you’d do worse than to check out Seven Storms in full. You can do that over at the band’s Bandcamp and, while you’re there, consider throwing a dollar or two (or five) their way.