Two For the Show

Those unfamiliar with the hardcore rock genre and searching for a Fleet Foxes-style record are in for a big surprise: this Mountain Man EP is from a group of the same name but with far different personnel and style. Started in 2009 by former members of Worcester outfit Last Lights, Mountain Man found immediate success with their first EP One, followed by their first full-length album Grief. Now the men are back with the fiery four song EP Two.

“And Live in the Past” is the most thoughtful of the four songs, meandering slightly with a crashing guitar intro that careens into signature vocals from frontman Josh Smith, whose evocative lyrics carry the song well past the usual mindless slapdash thrash of hardcore in a way reminiscent of Fucked Up’s latest David Comes to Life. The slow burn arpeggios of “Take Out The Sun” are absolutely genre-defying, dizzing in their fuzzed out soundscape.

“Home is a Concept” makes for a great intro at best, starting abruptly despite the long intro and occasionally melding nicely between the give and take of guitars and vocals. Any percussion in the song is completely drowned for almost half of it and the occasionally solo thuds that do make it seem somewhat out of place. Mountain Man hit their mark with “That Won’t Always Last” however, adeptly straddling the balance between high slides and lower growls. Consider Two a pretty satisfying sampler of what’s to come since Mountain Man’s big signing with No Sleep Records.