STEEL MAMMOTH - Atomic Mountain CD

Side project of the band Circle. It's pure WTF? weirdness in the guise of a metal band. More catchy than crushing, it's a hitherto unheard hybrid of Circle's trademark hypnotic pulsations, a relaxed pop sensibility, tossed off hard rock riffing, moody tension, and sensitive vocals delivering ridiculous lyrics. Lyrics that are so ridiculous they're genius, lyrics that would make Monster Magnet or Manowar laugh and crumple up their notebook page if they'd written them. For instance, lines like: ''barbarian lords/we ride alone/until we're just a pile of bones'', or ''lonely banzai rhino blackout leather/volcano hideout of the mountain owl/masterplan suicide war machine/lady death on the steering wheel'', or ''black diamond thunder dragon/beast of vampire torture/silver locusts on the desert sky/acid rain wasteland''! Death and destruction and kicking ass seem to be the themes... yet there's some thought and depth to it all, extending to a self-constructed cosmology for these ''nuclear barbarians'' on their journey to the center of the ''atomic mountain'', that's depicted in a schematic in the cd booklet.

There's even a sincere sentimentality to some of this -- when album closer and title track ''Atomic Mountain'' finds the band sweetly crooning ''Down, down, down I go'' you FEEL it on some meaningful level, really. Most of the songs share a skeletal Judas Priest vibe, stripped down and mellowed out and infused with effects. The opener, ''Black Team'', reminds us more of a handicapped Rolling Stones, fronted maybe by Danzig, but odder even than that would be. The 11 and a half minute ''Commando Leopard'' is an instrumental that starts off with primitive krauty rhythms before entering into a long beatless stretch of atmospheric, electronic spookiness. 9 tracks, 42:18.

TRACK LISTING:
1. Black Team
2. Heart Of Bone
3. Midnight Witches
4. Blackout Leather
5. Nuclear Barbarians
6. Commando Leopard
7. Riders Of Death
8. Metal Infant
9. Atomic Mountain