Black Mountain Transmitter - Black Goat of the Woods (2010, Aurora Borealis)

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I've always liked the idea of a record that gives me a fright. The problem is that the genres of music designed to do this don't work for me. Take black metal: lord knows that I've tried to find a great black metal record but they always give me the chuckles. Wolves in the Throne Room was the last black metal record I dabbled with and it crystallized the problem that I have with the genre. It all sounds horribly forced. Even Khanate's last one was a bit of a doddle. The only records that do a good job of unsettling me are those in the noise realm. Think Wolf Eyes, Prurient, Hair Police and Cherry Point but I've done those bands to death and I'm looking for something new.

Luckily along came The Wire's 2010 wrap-up and an intriguing essay from Mr. Savage Pencil himself, Edwin Pouncey. Lord knows that magazine lives to create a new genre of music and according to Pouncey bands like Black Music Transmitter fall under the banner of 'hauntology'. It's a stupid genre because the bands listed in that piece are all totally different but the thing that unites them all is the idea of using horror soundtracks and related spookiness as source material.

Black Mountain Transmitted are a duo from Northern Ireland, Black Goat of the Woods was originally released on a limited release CD-R before getting the re-release treatment from Aurora Borealis last October. The single 40-minute track that makes up this record is a tribute to the incidental, atmospheric music of long lost horror soundtracks. This is less about demon screams and the cries of people getting eviscerated and more about swirling mists of tense strings and ominous vibes. This is the music that plays when you see the dark figure walking through the woods. It is not the sound of violence, but dread. This album works for me because the band could have been terribly obvious about their intent, but on Black Goat of the Woods they hold back and it is all the most creepy for that restraint.

[Black Mountain Transmitter Myspace]
[Buy Black Goat of the Woods from Aurora Borealis]