Originating from Mainz, Germany, The Mountain King is a boundary-pushing music project founded by multi-instrumentalist Eric McQueen in 2014, and later joined guitarist Frank Grimbarth and DJ Robert Furbished.
Since 2014, the collective has forged a distinct sonic identity at the murky crossroads of doom, cinematic electronica, and avant-garde composition. While rooted in the bleak atmospheres of funeral doom and drone metal, The Mountain King has evolved into a fluid, genre-agnostic hybrid. Their sound draws from a wide spectrum of influences including early heavy metal, shoegaze, trip hop, EDM, post-rock, and ambient techno. Yet it defies simple classification, with the focus instead on sound texture, repetition, and decay, favouring expansive compositions over traditional song structures.
Reflecting the spirit of experimental acts like Blanck Mass, the analogue warmth and emotional depth of Aphex Twin, and the minimalism of artists like The Field and Andy Stott, lyrically, The Mountain King explores many themes on latest album, Vegetation. From existential dread and modern alienation to psychological collapse, wrought by capitalism – often veiled in allegory drawn from ancient myth and folklore – when vocals appear, they are sparse, obscured, and treated as just another layer within the greater soundscape.
“Vegetation to me is where raw emotion meets the wild beauty,” explains McQueen. “A soundscape that grows, breathes, and breaks through the concrete of our everyday life with the force of music. Electronic beats and synths meet drone guitars and distorted sounds to create a new sound, making old habits and genres obsolete. We swim through those frequencies that show us the spectrum of emotions and invite others to us too.”
Rejecting commercial expectations, the group releases music primarily through Bandcamp and limited-run physical editions via their own imprint, Void Key Recordings. With their sound resonating with fans of boundary-pushing electronic music; techno, drone, and avant-garde design coalesce into something raw, immersive, and unrelenting. And if you enjoy being challenged by metal music, The Mountain King is waiting…
Vegetation by The Mountain King is released 4th July 2025 on Void Key Recordings (pre-order). Listen to the new single ‘Cold Peace Abundance (feat. OORA)’ here!
Live Dates:
4th July – Album Release Party –Blockwerk Climbing Hall, Main
