The Best Thing You’ll Hear Today: Mountaineer’s Debut Album Sirens & Slumber

Amongst the great bummers of 2016 (U.S. presidential election notwithstanding) was the breakup of Secrets of the Sky, a band much beloved by multiple MS staffers to whom we devoted copious amounts of e-ink over the years.

But as musicians are wont to do, SotS guitarist Clayton Bartholomew (also ex-Lycus) has launched a new project. It’s called Mountaineer, and their debut album Sirens & Slumber is currently streaming over at Metal Hammer Germany.

So what’s it sound like? A bit like Secrets of the Sky, sure, in that’s firmly rooted in post-metal, and it veers towards the proggy side of that spectrum. But on the whole Mountaineer seem a bit more sludgy, slower, more deliberate. It’s a a bit of a different look, given the different musicians involved — vocalist Miguel Meza (ex-Ashes of American Flags), guitarist Mike McClatchey, drummer Sean McCullough, and bassist David Small (all currently of Lament Cityscape) — but fans of SotS should absolutely love Mountaineer, and vice versa if you’re just tuning in.

Sirens & Slumber comes out May 19th on Lifeforce Records; order here.