Thought Forms - Ghost Mountain (Invada Records)

In a time when culture is collapsing, threatening the future of the arts all across The Isles, Bristol exists as a gravitational centre for any contemporary music project in the surrounding area. It seems that almost every upcoming band is ditching the rusted circuit in their local town and heading towards the bright lights and expansive gig venues. And why not? It might just be the only place left in The South West with a fortified music scene. I've been living in Taunton, Somerset for the last year and I can tell you there's nothing going on, much more than The Three B's: bingo, bars and brawling. There's a shortage of live venues to play at and very little interest or investment. Due to the present situation and particularly this kind of travesty, I feel like, down here, it might as well be some wild west ghost town with tumble weeds blowing.

So what's going on in Bristol? Yes, please tell us. We're dying for entertainment. Well, thanks to the wonders of promotion I recently discovered something. Building a reputation from their raw, powerful gigs, Thought Forms are a truly impressive kind of rock group, growing in all the right ways. Despite only three members, their sound is big, versitile and very engaging. Their second album, Ghost Mountain, retains the sonic variation of their gigs and I'll warn you now, it's not a jolly ride. Some deeply primal current runs through the record, a sort of black magic.

Ten years ago I would have thrown in the term Post Rock to describe their style but these days the phrase is peculiar, even obsolete. And the whole Doom Metal thing seems so long ago. However, you may still hear influences from Godspeed You! Black Emperor, OM and Mogwai in there. Tracks such as 'Ghost Mountain You and Me' and 'Only Hollow' (posted above), harmonious guitar riffs and melodies also recall the American Alternative scene. Their jam-based sets build up walls of distortion around the listener using a wide range of the electric guitar's experimental repertoire.

I'll admit that sometimes the droning, mystical atmospheres may turn a tad soporific but these kind of tracks never feel out of place within the whole structure. Their music is black, mournful, grand and they follow a great tradition for down-right crippling gloom. Even Portishead, the old Bristolian masters of bleakness have given their blessing. Yet a sense of tearful promise rising from the ashes was what really caught me about Thought Forms. When the record draws to a close, you can visualise those looming high rises being toppled over leaving a cloud of dust from which to begin again.

Thought Forms' Ghost Mountain is released tomorrow, 25th of Febuary on Invada Recordings.

(© Copyright 2013 Brendan Morgan)