Some absolutely huge releases this week with the long anticipated new albums from Arcade Fire and Wavves, as well as the new album from Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band and Versus’ first new album in over a decade.

While it’d be easy to just choose the new Arcade Fire or Wavves for the Record of the Week, it’s our job to scour everything that’s coming out to give you what truly is fantastic. Our Record of the Week however comes from out of nowhere though to completely floor us. Hailing from Chapel Hill, NC, Horseback is the recording moniker of Jenks Miller. After having become familiar with Horseback through his debut album, Impale Golden Horn, which was an absolutely wonderful fuzzed out drone album filled with buzzing guitars, piano and very little vocals, I was quite shocked to see Relapse, mostly known for nothing but metal acts, announce they were releasing the new Horseback. Little did I know what Jenks Miller had up his sleeve for the newest album.

The Invisible Mountain is four tracks of psychedelic-fused, drone-dirged metal that reveals itself in layers. The opener, “Invokation,” fades in to the band already picking up steam. The track is nearly seven minutes long and calls to mind if the last Om album, God Is Good, had a guitarist on it. “Tyrant Symmetry” brings in a second guitarist and a rhodes piano in the background. There is a certain twang to the riffs that evoke the spirits of the last couple Earth albums. “The Invisible Mountain” keeps the album going with another seven minute song of heavy riffs and vocals that seem to channel a level of evil, as if something happened between this album and his last.

The album really takes a turn with the final track, “Hatecloud Dissolving Into Nothing,” which, by it’s title, sounds like it could be the most evil track but almost feels like a musical repentance. Jenks takes it on his own in this sixteen minute long track of layered, blissed out guitars that will leave you completely mind melted. Absolutely essential.

Listen to “Tyrant Symmetry” from Horseback’s Invisible Mountain

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Honorable Mentions

Wavves – King of the Beach (Fat Possum)

This is the best album Wavves has put out yet. There, I said it. Gone is the super lo-fi recordings, traded in for just slightly lo-fi recordings(HA!) and in is the former rhythm section of the late Jay Reatard. This has helped contribute to making one hell of a catchy album of garage-y beach bangers that barely ever reach the three minute mark. A great new album by one of the fastest rising bands of the last couple years.

Listen to “King of the Beach” from Wavves’ King of the Beach

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.