ALBUM REVIEW: Supersonic Megafauna Collision – Acid Mammoth
Spanning over 3,400 years of recorded history, the city of Athens has had its fair share of seminal and monumental moments. The Greek capital has seen it all, with the iconic Parthenon standing proudly on Acropolis hill alongside its supervising philosophical ideas and its rich mythology, it has given the world an incredible amount. Now the city gives us one more offering: the heavyweight riff connoisseurs ACID MAMMOTH. The Athenian quartet have made quite a name for themselves in the European scene and have become one of the premier doom exports of the Greek metal underground. Since their inception in 2015 they have been on a non-stop journey, having released three albums in a four-year period between 2017 and 2021. Now the band return with their triumphant, BLACK SABBATH-worshipping fourth album Supersonic Megafauna Collision.
With a title that sounds like it came from a stoned wizard’s brain after ingesting too many mushrooms, Supersonic Megafauna Collision continues ACID MAMMOTH’s tradition of creating enticing and hypnotic psychedelic doom with a distinctly Mediterranean flavour. It does have a slight twist; it carries on the established sound from the band’s previous albums but gets gradually darker and darker as the album progresses. This all culminates in the album’s closing song Tusko’s Last Trip, which tells the heart-wrenching story of Tusko, an elephant that dies a result of sadistic human experimentation. ACID MAMMOTH have never done things by half and Supersonic Megafauna Collision is no different. It is another unholy celebration of all things riff-heavy and doom-laden.
Blending their hypnotic psychedelics with Parthenon-shaking fuzz, they have once again put together an evil and explosive album. Harkening back to those early BLACK SABBATH albums but with a modern approach to heaviness, ACID MAMMOTH have really gone out of their way to make you feel the sheer weight and force of this album. Even so, compared to its predecessor, the triumphant and cataclysmically heavy Caravan (2021), Supersonic Megafauna Collision leans more into the band’s psychedelic realms. There is a more atmospheric vibe to this album, due to the songs perceivably being slower with more intricate guitar leads. With that in mind, the band’s more creative route feels a bit like the transition between BLACK SABBATH’s Vol. 4 into Sabbath Bloody Sabbath in the way that it has that iconic tone and sound, but feels a little bit different.
As a result, the album is quite expansive and allows Chris Babalis Jr.’s (vocals, guitar) vocal melodies to really shine through. There is also some wonderful guitar harmonies in the chords and leads between Babalis Jr. and Chris Babalis Sr. (guitar), both of which are underpinned by the incredibly tight rhythm section of Dimosthenis Varikos (bass) and Marios Louvaris (drums). ACID MAMMOTH haven’t been afraid to switch it up with this album; each song plays with dynamics and layering instead of being a straightforward, lumbering doom track. With that in mind it is safe to say that Supersonic Megafauna Collision showcases a very subtle, ongoing evolution.
Opening up with the title track Supersonic Megafauna Collision, the album starts with six-and-a-half minutes of full on fuzz-worship – a dynamic and hypnotic song that sounds like pure filthy, acid induced evil. One thing about ACID MAMMOTH’s sound is that it sounds like you are tripping balls with every song. Babalis Jr.’s vocals captivate you as the riffs swirl around you. This leads on to Fuzzorgasm (Keep On Screaming), a swaggering, groove-laden track that will have you banging your head in no time. Old school and straight to the point, its main riff is a real earworm. Garden Of Bones is where you begin to see that shift from fuzz to atmospherics. It’s still a heavy track but it slows the pace and the vocals take centre stage as the guitars dial themselves back by filling the space with droned chords instead of lead melodies.
Atomic Shaman picks up the pace again but somehow feels more menacing than the previous tracks. A fuzzing and fizzing bass drives the song forward with devastating efficiency and the weight of the album really starts to weigh on your shoulders. One With The Void feels like a psychedelic interlude but is an intriguingly hypnotic song that gives you some respite from the fuzz. The album closes with Tusko’s Last Trip, a nearly 12-minute epic of fuzz, psychedelia and the aforementioned heart-breaking story of Tusko. It is an emotive track that gets you thinking about the evils of mankind, thoughts which stay with you after the last fuzz-drenched drone finishes.
Once again ACID MAMMOTH have created an album that isn’t for the faint of heart. Supersonic Megafauna Collision is a heavy and dark album that showcases what doom is all about.
Rating: 8/10
Supersonic Megafauna Collision is set for release on April 5th via Heavy Psych Sounds.
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