Official press release:
California-based Mountaineer (a.k.a. MTNR), a newly-found act with the roots of its members tracing to Secrets Of The Sky, Lycus, Lament Cityscape, and others, has completed their first recordings. The band is planning to release their debut record through Battleground Records this Summer, in conjunction with their first live performances.
Mountaineer was formed in late 2015 by guitarist Clayton Bartholomew (ex-Secrets Of The Sky, ex-Lycus) and longtime friend, vocalist Miguel Meza. The two demoed out a full album and soon after recruited guitarist Mike McClatchey (Lament Cityscape), drummer Sean McCullough (Lament Cityscape), and bassist David Small to round out the live band. While elements of the more doom-laden, low-end thunder of the creators’ prior works are present in this new act’s sound, Mountaineer displays a dense but accessible, organic style of emotional rock, their output ranging from dense and epic movements to more stripped-down and accessible passages.
In March of this year, Mountaineer entered Nu-Tone Studios with engineer Ben Hirschfield to record their debut. While the album is not being released until later this year, the band has decided to release two songs early via a special advance vinyl EP in conjunction with a West Coast tour in August. Bearing the tracks “Coma Fever” and “Siren Song”, the two-song EP will be pressed on a 7″ picture disc lathe cut, limited to 55 copies. The record will only be available at Mountaineer’s upcoming live shows in August, after which any remaining pieces will be sold on the bands webstore.
Mountaineer prepares to make its live debut with a trek through the upper West Coast US the first week of August; stand by for the official routing and details to be announced in the coming days.