This band with the name Brutus is a Scandinavian act with members from Norway and Sweden in its ranks. The guys collaborate in order to pay tribute to the witchcraftian Seventies scene, trying to put a psychedelic soul and bluesy retro-Rock into the whole concept. The recording process took quite a while, but the guys wanted to create a faultless concept and the recording sessions took place in both Norway (Subsonic Society Oslo) and Sweden (Music-a-Matic Studio in Gothenburg for final mix and mastering). Both studios, by the way, were used by the band before for the recording of their split-EP with Graviators and their debut-LP respectively.
Behind The Mountains, the successor of the self-titled debut full length (2011), goes completely on in the vein of the debut. It’s an interpretation of Seventies Rock and Traditional Doom. There is no originality at all, for it all sounds way too predictable and heard-it-before. That’s sad. It happens / happened to other bands as well, but in some cases it’s not a problem for one act or another comes with a fabulous quality (production, song writing and/or performance), and sometimes it’s a mistake when there’s no thrill at all. In Brutus’ case it’s somewhere in between. No, they are not boring or infantile at all. I’ve heard worse stuff for sure, and up to a certain level it’s even acceptable. But at the same time I do miss that something more that could have made a difference. It’s way too simple, too plain, and not one single moment during this forty five minute trip I am coming close to an aural orgasm. Behind The Mountains leaves me unsatisfied, with mixed feelings / emotions, and I guess it will only be appreciated intensively by obsessed collectors of everything in the vein of, let’s say, earlier Black Sabbath, Pentagram, Blue Cheer, Trouble, Pagan Altar and Grand Funk Railroad.