Review - Mt. St. Helen

Band: Mt. St. Helen
Album: Of Others
Label: Two Thumbs Down Records
Rating: 2.5/5
With four-year breaks in between each of the three records they’ve released, Mt. St. Helen obviously likes to keep their fans waiting for new music. With the long downtime between records and switching of record labels on each release, it’s been hard for the group to build any real steam. On their latest record Of Others the band comes together with a solid rock sound reminiscent of …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of the Dead.

The instrumentation on the record is a solid foundation to build a good rock album on. The vocals, on the other hand, don’t really compliment the rest of the band. Sure they’re decent vocals, but they sound exactly the same on every track. The lack of vocal dynamics and range come off bland. The vocals aren’t so terrible that they don’t work for some tracks such as “Massive Dosage.” On the track “City Of…” the band tries pulling off something different with an almost old school metal feel. The vocals are a little more fitting on this song too, but it still seems like the lead singer is only carrying one note.

This record was pretty straightforward and my analysis seems to follow that trend. Instrumentally, this record was pretty solid. Vocally, it struggles.

I would recommend this record to Trail of the Dead fans as long as they realize that the vocals wont have the same charisma.