Seamount are a bewildering proposition. At various points during this, the band's fifth studio album, you get melancholic AC/DC ('Beautiful Sadness'), bouncy 80's soft rock ('No One Knows') and random punk-lite ('In The End').
The album kicks off like a mid-80s Black Sabbath, with a dollop of Judas Priest, and it seems immediately clear that Seamount, three years after the oddity of the 'Earthmother' album, are returning to their roots - namely: melodic, classic doom rock. 'Can't Escape the Pain' ups the doom dosage, with a little Danzig-style drama for show. And then, proving that guitarist Tim Schmidt has lost none of his ability to concoct powerful riffs, the title track is a right hook of raucous stoner metal.
Things seem to be going in the right direction. And they get better still. Despite the overt sentimentality of its title, the song 'Scars Of The Emotional Stuntman' possesses musical subtlety and dexterity, drawing upon The Obsessed to re-establish that typical Seamount sound, if such a thing truly exists.
01 Bestial Rising 02 Can't Escape The Pain 03 Nitro Jesus 04 Scars Of The Emotioal Stuntman 05 Hold Up The Sun 06 Bulletproff 07 Beautiful Sadness 08 In The End 09 No One Knows