Phantom Hound - Official page for the rock band Phantom Hound.

Discography

From Boom Town To Ghost Town

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Mountain Pass

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The Ether E.P.

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Power Play Magazine

MOUNTAIN PASS REVIEW - I seriously don't know where to put this. It's stoner rock, it's grunge and it's blues. It is also raw and brutally honest.

The opener of Mountain Pass is “The Northern Face” is greeted with Stephen Rogers bass line and quickly joined by Jack Stiles’ rhythm and then Jake Navarra rips open with guitar and voice. Coming on like ALICE IN CHAINS, they grind it out on a huge groove until they hit a BLACK SABBATH like line on "Thunder I Am". "Irons In The Fire" takes it to SOUNDGARDEN with Navarra singing a bit cleaner. To me, this band sounds a lot like Aussie alt rockers TRACER. "You Don’t Know Death" rattles along like the locomotives the album has for it’s concept. It’s acoustic time on instrumental "Grace Of An Angel" with bassist Steve Rogers providing the subtle keys and then it’s back to the heavy on the title track "Mountain Pass" where Navarra noodles on the intro with a shit ton of distortion until they settle into the grungy roller. "Devil Blues" is a quiet/loud piece where Navarra gets to shred. Then there is the closer "The Southern Face". It is nearly 8 minutes of grunge/blues for good measure.

Doomed Wolf On Sludged Planet

MOUNTAIN PASS REVIEW - We will never stop being surprised by new and recently emerged metal artists around the globe. The heavier styles of metal music constantly present great tunes. PHANTOM HOUND is one of these bands. A 3-member formation from Oakland, CA, that is self-characterized as a Doom & Blues rock band, but in reality they are specialized in much more known and beloved styles, such as Sludge, Grunge, Heavy Psych & Stoner Rock.

I will not lie about vocals reminding me somehow of Chris Cornell especially in "Thunder I Am", but that's just an amazing fact as nobody is trying to copy anyone. It's all on the rare timbre of Jake's voice. After all, I am not aware of anyone who doesn't need a communication and mental connection with old SOUNDGARDEN and AUDIOSLAVE.

PHANTOM HOUND is sludgier, hence much heavier. On the other side there are those great calm melodic moments. But don't be fooled. This is the calmness before the storm.

Mountain Pass is all about dark riffs, thunderous drums and ear shaking bass lines. An audio trip of the mountain-piercer, a heavy haul locomotive machine, following its doomy, ritualistic route. The question is...can you qualify as it's passenger?

Doomed & Stoned

MOUNTAIN PASS REVIEW - I live not far from the railroad and there’s something very comforting about hearing a train roll in. It’s appropriate that the might and roar of that metallic convoy be responsible for opening the new record from PHANTOM HOUND.

This new record showcases a sound that’s genuinely enticing, much like GUNS N’ ROSES' Appetite For Destruction was when I first heard it at age 12 (the first cassette I had to buy clandestinely from my parents).

The riff-making, from leads to solos, is strong with Mountain Pass. Driving each track forward like a mighty engine, from the rush of the opener “The Northern Face” to the grinding and bluesier “Thunder I Am,” as well as the chugging pistons of “Irons In The Fire,” and the Matt Pike-like filigrees of “The Southern Face.” Jake’s powerful pipes fall somewhere in between Chris Cornell’s soaring medium range, the raspy grit of Finnish vocalist Olli Suurmunne (KAISER, ALTAR OF BETELGEUZE), and the commanding force of Australia’s Chris Fisher (FIELD, LAMASSU).

A pleasant acoustic interlude, “Grace of an Angel” gives us a rest stop from the treacherous uphill journey, leading to the album’s expansive namesake track and a very overcast second-half. “Devil Blues” is quite effective in conjuring the rough terrain of the California mountains and the sense of lonesomeness one feels when traveling deep into the wild. We’ve now traveled from “The Northern Face” to meet “The Southern Face,” the Mountain Pass closer. It’s a doomy one for sure, though the intrepid tempo gives the sense of determination that this journey will be finished.

Metal Addicts

MOUNTAIN PASS REVIEW - This an album where the word heavy acquires a new relevance and level. It’s great to hear again the extreme noise maker Fuzz pedal. Though the main drive of Mountain Pass is the 1990's Grunge and its influences, there are still moments of the glorious Heavy Rock where the Fuzz pedal reigns supreme giving the fans the opportunity of getting to know the real roots of heavy music.

From the beginning, some bands such as ALICE IN CHAINS and SOUNDGARDEN showed their predilection for BLACK SABBATH. Many said that Grunge music was some kind of encounter between BLACK SABBATH and Punk Rock. Over-reaction in my opinion. Of course, there are lots of BLACK SABBATH elements, but very few of punk rock. PHANTOM HOUND here show the real influences that those 1990's bands had.

Mountain Pass opens up with a distorted bass line which is followed by an insane drumming into and ever more insane vocals. The smell and taste of ALICE IN CHAINS is in the air as well as Sludge and Shoe-gazed guitar riffing. Heavy as hell, I must say. One thing that catches the fan is the heaviness of PHANTOM HOUND'S music. The inspired old school guitar solos as well. The ode to the 1960s Heavy Rock begins with the inflamed and groovy “Thunder I Am” which makes the fan bang the head with a feeling like JUDAS PRIEST'S White Heat, Red Hot. Next up is “Irons in the Fire” which is kind of a mix the both influences. The fan can listen to hybrid track and notices that it works pretty fine. And so the album goes with some real interesting and inspired guitar solos embellished by the good old Fuzz pedal.

By the way, what a nice instrumental acoustic track is “Grace of an Angel” which is followed by the arsonist title track “Mountain Pass” and its flaming guitar solo intro.

The Obelisk

MOUNTAIN PASS REVIEW - Mountain Pass, which begins with “The Northern Face,” ends with “The Southern Face” and along the way treks through its on-theme title-track and the speedier “You Don’t Know Death,” catchy “Thunder I Am” and fairly-enough bluesy “Devil Blues,” has its foundations in Old-School Metal and Punk, but is a decidedly Rock-based offering.

It’s the debut from Oakland California's PHANTOM HOUND, and its eight component tracks make no attempt to mask their origins or coat their material in unnecessary pretense — they are what they are; the album is what it is.

The three-piece dip into acoustics on the instrumental “Grace of an Angel,” which shifts with a cymbal wash into the lead guitar at the outset of the eight-minute title-track — the stomp of which is perhaps more evocative of the mountain than the passing, but still works — but even this isn’t so far removed from the straightforward purposes of “Irons in the Fire,” which stakes its claim to dead-ahead Metal and Rock, barely stopping along the way to ask what else you could possibly need.

The Sludgelord

MOUNTAIN PASS REVIEW - American trio PHANTOM HOUND present a sound somewhere between SOUNDGARDEN and Stoner/Doom bands like SIXTY-WATT SHAMAN and ROADSAW. You get eight tracks of Blues inflected grooving Rock.

Opener “The Northern Face” sums up the band's sound pretty well, while “Thunder I Am” is a solid slab with some time changes and extensive solo passages. The solo sections favor the strict trio format- no rhythm guitar under it. The guitar sound is a treat- thick and fuzzed out. The sound is raw and live.

All and the material is uniformly strong throughout. “You Don't Know Death” is a fine track and then “Grace Of An Angel” brings acoustic guitars and bridges the first half of the album with the second. The epic title track is eight minutes plus of downbeat SOUNDGARDEN-esque Rock but it is bettered, in my view, by “Devil Blues” which is a wonderfully dynamic track with excellent guitar work.

“The Southern Face” closes the album out with close to eight minutes of very dark Rock, the driving main section is effective and very strong. Overall, this is a solid release of Stoner Rock that is as American as apple pie. If you like any of the bands mentioned above, give this a try. I assume you've got some time on your hands currently to do just that?!

OAKLAND HEAVY PSYCH