The Vancouver riffmongers set the controls for the heart of the ’80s

Since emerging from a cloud of weed smoke in the mid-2000s, Vancouver riffmongers Black Mountain have been gradually setting the controls for the heart of the ’80s—namely an ’80s where heavy metal and classic synth-pop peacefully coexist. Destroyer—named for bandleader Stephen McBean’s preferred model of Dodge, not the classic 1976 Kiss LP—continues the process of cross-wiring Black Mountain’s monstrous boogie grooves and neon keyboard textures. The electro-shocked rocker “Future Shade”, the asphalt-ripping “Licensed to Drive” and the hypnotic, hammering epic “High Rise” conjure video-arcade visions of an old TRON game being manhandled by a hesher with a Judas Priest patch on his faded jean jacket. But Destroyer also reaffirms that this band can be just as deadly at quieter volumes, as they descend into the string-swirled goth-psych phantasmagoria of “Pretty Little Lazies” and the dystopian sci-fi-soundtrack chill of “Closer to the Edge”.