Labels: No Idea Records
Review by: Graeme Cunningham
The Holy Mountain, written and directed by Alexander Jodorowsky, is without doubt one of the strangest films you’ll ever see. The plot, what there is of it, follows a Jesus-esque character, as he passes through scene after scene of bizarre symbolic surrealism on some vaguely spiritual quest. The mind truly boggles at points (particularly in the scene recreating the Spanish conquest of South America with Toads and explosives). This is obviously extraneous information as far as reviewing this 7″ goes, but hey, don’t say I never try to enrich your grey drab existence.
The Holy Mountain we are discussing here features Dan (or Ponch if you prefer) from Combatwoundedveteran on bass/vocals (it also features members of the Blackout Terror, but I’d be lying if I said that meant anything to me). Now I was a bit of a Combatwoundedveteran enthusiast, so I was very interested to hear what this was gonna be all about. As it turns out, this is very much a different bucket of amputated limbs.
There’s five tracks at 45 on this 7″. Its for the most part up beat, with a few slower parts mixed in. Think perhaps Tragedy (track four in particular) with bits more akin to DS-13 or even Asshole Parade. Each track is fairly distinct with its own identity, avoiding the trap a lot of trashy stuff falls into. Another big plus point for this baby is it sounds like a big beefy bastard, not overproduced, but with that typical warm Gainesville sound.
What really set the Holy Mountain apart from the flock to me though are the lyrics. Pissed off, cynical, sarcastic, echoes perhaps of the Guyana Punchline approach, but lest esoteric. Track one (“Requiem for a Gringo”) calls out Bush “I didn’t vote for you, and I hope you die soon. One more Cowboy for the Fire”. Direct and to the point. If there was an annual award for genius in the field of song titles, track two “Q:Foreign Policy? A:Bombs” would surely sweep the board.
And finally, if you need anymore reason to buy it, there’s the wonderful Steak Dept provide the inside art/typography to drool over.