Review Summary: Mountain Continues to Rock Into A New Millennium!
Mountain is a great example of how a band that has been playing music and making records for over a few decades can still put out a fantastic album. Mystic Fire shows us how this power trio still rocks with an updated style and contemporary production. Original members Leslie West on guitar and vocals and Corky Laing on drums are the driving force of Mountain. After the death of original Mountain bassist Felix Pappalardi, the band has recorded and released albums Go for Your Life and Man’s World with bassist Mark Clarke which also display how great the band is with a newer sound. Mystic Fire continues this era of Mountain with Chuck Hearne and Richie Scarlet playing bass.
The album starts off with the song Immortal featuring heavy guitar with catchy riffs followed by the epic title track Mystic Fire with some soul-searching lyrics and melodies. Then you have a great rock and roll cover of the Peggy Lee hit Fever which features some slide guitar played by Todd Wolfe. You can really hear the signature sound of Mountain and Leslie West’s killer guitar licks on Mutant X, Better Off With The Blues, Marble Peach/Rotten Peach and Mountain Express (Oh Boy) which is a really fun blues jam to listen to. There is a really fine Mountain-Style rendition of the American Civil War anthem Johnny Comes Marching Home showing us along with all the other tunes here that Corky Laing is still an extraordinary drummer. For those who long for the classics, they do a really nice remake of Nantucket Sleighride.
Some people who have reviewed Mountain’s later albums as well as Mystic Fire criticize them for not sounding like the records that the band put out in the early seventies. They fail to see the evolvement of a musical ensemble developing a fresh new approach instead of just mailing in some tunes sounding like all their previous material. These are probably the same people who would still complain if they made record after record that sounded the same as the early releases. Yes, Mountain Climbing, Nantucket Sleighride and Avalanche are all classic albums from the group. With this said, Mystic Fire showcases a premium rock and roll sound and style that rivals a lot of the hard rock and heavy metal released in recent years. This is not surprising because Mountain was one of the bands that helped pioneer and cultivate this music.
