Every couple of years we find MTN ISL on the precipice of a new release. Since 2013 the Atlanta foursome has been conjuring an acerbic cocktail of pummeling post-hardcore, angular math rock, and discordant noise. Over the years they’ve tweaked that formula some, occasionally splicing in elements of post-rock or doom metal, but mostly they’ve been content to stretch those primary ingredients into all sorts of intriguing concoctions. The group’s latest, the forthcoming Big Question, marks MTN ISL’s sixth overall album, and their first since the pandemic-issued, blink-and-you-missed-it Where’s Ray?
As the lead track for the LP, “Birthing” makes for a titanic introduction. The ringing guitar that opens the cut is simple enough, but then Daniel Deckebach’s dexterous drumming cuts through the track like a mad scientist splitting atoms. For a moment it’s like drifting feverishly through space, a rippling jet wash of tumbling rhythms, distortion, and feedback. But then Josh Lyner’s acidic growl comes in and we find ourselves yanked out of the slipstream and sent hurtling back to earth. It’s familiar territory for the band, this swirling tempest of corrosive guitars and lurching grooves, and yet you can’t help but feel something grander and more expansive lurking in the atmosphere.
At this point, it’s worth noting that MTN ISL has never been given to conceptual scheming or big thematic explorations. They’re a band that values emotion over ideas, camaraderie and shared values over purpose. That’s not to say, however, that there isn’t something larger at play in their music. Just look at the tracklist for Big Question and you’ll see “Birthing” bookended on the opposite end by “Dying” with all manner of existential actions popping up in-between. But even within that ideational conceit, the group is quick to temper expectations. As they’ve revealed in the past, the group places no focus on lyrics; they’d rather let the music be their voice.
“There aren’t [any] lyrics, it’s all just sounds,” Lyner confirms. “But yeah, I guess I like the whole living process as a theme, just for fun. And you see it peak around the half mark, then give way to a different type of living, a little darker but also more true. But really just for fun, again no words just sounds.”
Listen below.
Big Question is out Aug. 13. Check out the cover art and tracklist below.
Big Question Tracklist:
01. Birthing
02. Seeing
03. Hearing
04. Feeling
05. Learning
06. Living
07. Killing
08. Trying
09. Failing
10. Stalling
11. Lying
12. Grieving
13. Crying
14. Dying
MTN ISL will celebrate the release of Big Question on Thu., Sep. 9 at the EARL alongside Warm Red, the Sunglasses, and Thousandaire. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. Admission is $12 in advance or $14 DOS. 21+ to enter.
More Info
Bandcamp: mtnisl.bandcamp.com
Facebook: @MTNISL
Instagram: @mountain_island
SoundCloud: @mtnisl
Twitter: @MTN_ISL