Giant of the Mountain, 'Terror in its Purest Form' - Song Review

So, Giant of the Mountain is a Blackened Death Metal band from Plano, Texas. (Google says they’re a Rock band from Dallas. Someone hasn't been doing their research.) They’ve been at it since 2008 and in ten years they’ve released four albums and three EP’s. These mugs are busy bees.

But you know what the best thing is about these guys?

They write exclusively about Lovecraftian Horror. As in all of their songs are inspired by the works of H.P. himself. This song is no different. (Don’t ask me which work it's inspired by though. I wouldn't know. I just think Cthulhu is badass.) This track is off of their third album Moon Worship released in 2014.

So this song is sung from the perspective of the offspring of Shub-Niggurath, which is one of Lovecraft’s more popular creation’s. Shub-Niggurath is apparently called 'The Black Goat with a Thousand Young.' So this song is the ballad of one of those little (or possibly big) fucks. I don’t know if there’s a specific name for him, but that’s irrelevant and I ain’t purging through the wiki to find out.

So basically this narrator is waiting for the perfect time to freaking wreck all of humanity (When the stars turn back / I am released from my hell / I will prey upon humanity) And it gives no fucks about what we think about it. In fact, it does not think at all. It simply destroys. All it knows is that when the time comes it will effortlessly destroy humanity. And we will all shit our pants and be mindfucked by how scary it is (Fear beyond all comprehension). Hence, terror in its purest form.

I don’t really know the lore but this sounds fucking awesome.

I know, I know. I'm on it.

So the track starts off with an acoustic guitar twanging. It’s nothing too special. There’s a piano chord in the background and it really gives the intro an ominous feel as it progresses. A certain 1970's horror film's score comes to mind...

And then the song starts up. The drummer hits his snares slowly. The guitar tone here reminds me so much of Black Sabbath that I can’t help but think “This is a doom metal intro done right.”

Right now would be the time to note that the production is a bit grainy. It really adds to the muddy feel of the track. It's nothing too distracting but it definitely stands out enough for it to have to be intentional

Then the vocalist starts screeching.

Full stop. I love this vocalist. Especially when he holds the last note on every ‘Forever here I will stay.’ He sounds downright inhuman.

And he has two modes. Sounding like a talking air raid siren, and growling like a bloodthirsty orc. I'm a sucker for versatile vocals.

And dammit. The drummer is showing off the whole time. During every chorus, the motherfucker just beats his snare relentlessly. We might be seeing a domestic abuse case between this guy and his snare, he hits it so damn much.

Then we come to the breakdown. The guitarist shreds up and down the fret. The drummer refuses to give his snare a break. Then he starts abusing his cymbals too. Everything is sounding pretty damn decent. And then the part that drew me to this band starts up.

A choir starts singing completely in clean vocals. It’s as if someone put a gospel hymn in the middle of this death metal song. And it’s fucking awesome. It's completely unexpected with all of the screeching and growling that comes before it.

Then the vocalist starts barking again. And he lets out a horrifying screech. He screams the last few lines with his high and low screams layered together. And then everything winds down and the song ends.

And then you want to get right back on the Giant of the Mountain Roller Coaster immediately. I have never replayed a song as many times as this one. (Well except Nickelback, but those were different times.) I spent two days riding from work to home blasting this song, just intrigued by the highs and lows of the song. This track is truly amazing.

This is going to be the first time I’ve done this. I’m giving this track five out of five guitar picks. Hot damn. Give it a listen, or you ain't a trve metal fan.