It’s official, Black Mountain is my favourite Canadian band.

I had the pleasure of watching them open for Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds in Toronto a couple of years ago, and they blew me away. It’s rare for me to rush to the merch table for a band I’ve never heard of but I had to have their current album at the time, Into the Future. The even weirder part is that I hate prog rock, and there’s really no other way to describe this psychadelic mixture of vocals, intricate harmonies and mood.

I’ve been dying to hear Black Mountain’s new offering, Wilderness Heart. I finally got my hands on it this weekend, and just happened to be driving home from Quebec, so had plenty of time to listen to it. It’s stellar. I have no other way to describe it. A completely new sound for them, it’s a powerhouse of prog-pop. There are delicate harmonies, grating guitars, pulsing drums, and they all add up to a Sabbath-esque sound that’s just unique enough to be Black Mountain.

Oh, and obviously the best album cover of all time.