ALBUM REVIEW: Ice Cold Oblivion – Mammoth Caravan
Metal can be primitive. It can be primal and raw and one of the most natural sensory experiences available to us. That goes double for doom, a sub-genre so commonly steeped in earthly worship by way of the most brutal and bruising raw tones imaginable. Now double that feeling again for MAMMOTH CARAVAN and their new album Ice Cold Oblivion – a concept album about a nomad chasing a baby mammoth from the herd. If that doesn’t scream bash-you-over-the-head and drag-you-back-to-the-cave tier metal, nothing will.
The title track opens with a riff that is so fuzzy and so buried in tones and effect pedals that it sounds as if it’s rumbling up from deep within the permafrost. It’s as if this is doom metal created by the first civilisations, trapped in time and tired of waiting to be dusted off by some doctorate group. Instead it pounds and pummels with all its might; drums crack the ancient surface, squelching bass erupts out of the buried quagmire and the vocals roar with ten thousand years worth of pent-up aggression. Apocalyptically heavy in its relentless barrage of riffs, it’s as if the mammoths are back amongst us and stampeding with reckless abandon.
Petroglyphs opens as a far more considered and measured track, as Evan Swift’s lilting guitar melody echoes out into space and time. Brandon Ringo’s sparse bass accompaniment starts to layer up the tension and the drums of Robert Warner leads them to a volcanic crescendo that suddenly becomes a molten death trap for all caught in its wake. When the track slows all the way down without sacrificing any of its phenomenal power, it’s impossible not to headbang with anything less than your whole upper body.
The vocals disappear for the equally hypnotic but wholly instrumental Megafauna, but when they return on Periglacial, they’ve transformed into something else entirely. Instead of the roars that could crack a mountain in half, this penultimate track leans far closer to the cleaner psych doom sounds of ACID KING or ELDER. There are still growled vocals peppered throughout the track, but by and large, this is a completely different side to anything else we get on Ice Cold Oblivion, and one that comes very much out of left field. As a result, it can feel slightly jarring when journeying through the album in full and feels like something of an anomaly.
Capping things off with the gargantuan Frostbite – which at 10:44 represents close to a third of the total album – MAMMOTH CARAVAN lay down one final flex of everything they bring to the table. Made up of monolithic riffage and guitar solos awash with wah pedals, it’s an intoxicating display of stamina. And while something doesn’t sit quite right with the vocal performance on this one (whether it’s a production or lyrical issue is really down to personal preference, but both reasons are valid), there’s enough here to make you want to let Ice Cold Oblivion wash over you all over again.
For all its caveman scene setting, MAMMOTH CARAVAN have laced enough novelty into Ice Cold Oblivion, even if the riffs and arrangements feel oddly familiar. This is no case of ‘man discovering fire’ in terms of it moving the scene forward, but when it’s good, man, some of this really is fire.
Rating: 7/10
Ice Cold Oblivion is set for release on February 24th via self-release.
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