ALBUM REVIEW: Imperator – Mammuthus
The Oceania region of the world is an unnatural habitat for a proboscidean species, as their usual home it in the Northern Hemisphere. Yet lurking deep in the undergrowth of Wellington, New Zealand is a ferocious and frothing mammoth of leviathan proportions. With a colossal mix of deep, earth-rumbling bass grooves, gritty vocal melodies, bluesy guitar wizardry and sonorous drums, MAMMUTHUS are here to stampede their way through your skull with their interesting brand of stoner doom.
The trio of Jay Rodeo (drums), Matt Bradford (bass) and Josh Micallef (vocals/guitar) make up this hairy, distortion-loving leviathan as they follow on from their earth-shaking 2020 self-titled EP with their crushing debut album Imperator. Inspired by the likes of SASQUATCH, BEASTWARS and of course BLACK SABBATH, MAMMUTHUS deliver a groove-laden, gut-punching sound with true Kiwi grit.
With a truly uncompromising power and rampaging rage, Imperator hits you fast and hard straight out of the gate. MAMMUTHUS’ metaphorical tusks swing wildly in a primal frenzy, seeking to lay waste to everything that crosses their path. Saturated in fizzing and fuzzing distortion, the Wellington trio have cranked everything up to eleven, eclipsing their already hulking debut EP with seemingly effortless ease.
MAMMUTHUS’ intrinsic ability to weave powerfully rousing melodies in between a cacophony of dark, oppressive and frenzied stoner riffs is something to be admired. Alongside this are the hypnotic and enigmatic vocals of Micallef. With his attention grabbing vocals harking back to the primal days of the Palm Desert scene, seeming to float over the darkness of the SASQUATCH and BLACK SABBATH inspired riffing, Imperator has an intoxicatingly trippy effect on you. Adding to this eclectic brew is a sense of melody and atmosphere first pioneered by the likes of YAWNING MAN and KYUSS – desert-baked psychedelia that captivates your imagination. At this album’s core is an intense and burning love for a massive riff. When MAMMUTHUS want to hit you with a gargantuan slab of the finest doom-laden, fuzzed out riffs, they go all in.
However, Imperator also showcases a richly diverse psychedelic side to MAMMUTHUS. This feels like something that they have fully embraced with the longer album format, the best example of this coming in the album’s closing track, Formless, which features fellow Wellington native EJ Thorpe from END BOSS. This spellbinding track offers up a surprise and a brilliant contrast to what has come before it. Its slow building psychedelia erupts into life with a crushing riff that hits you like a freight train. This positive experimentalism going forward can become an incredible weapon in MAMMUTHUS’ arsenal alongside their already well established riff writing.
Opening up with their lead single Holy Goat, MAMMUTHUS unleash their almighty barrage of stoner doom riffing with venom. Hulking BLACK SABBATH-inspired riffs with a groovy blues kick start the album incredibly strongly. Long Drive ventures more into the desert rock side of their sound, conjuring up imagery of tearing through a desert at full speed. Backdoor is where you can hear the amps really starting to burn hot with the valves glowing a bright red. It is here that the captivating vocal melodies from Micallef really shine through, with a catchy hook to boot. King Of The Dead is an all out doom and gloom stoner anthem, big riff after big riff producing a truly ground-shaking track worthy of mammoth status.
Monolith brings a more chilled out vibe in its introduction; here the more psychedelic side of MAMMUTHUS begins to shine. Hypnotic melodies and a slow, warm bass groove offers a brief moment of calm before the final anthemic doom flourish at the end of the track. Bloodworm continues business as usual with a slow groove-laden start before turning it on its head with a Children Of The Grave style thrash riff that brings even more imposing darkness to proceedings. The aforementioned album closer Formless is a beautifully magical and enrapturing final track. Luscious psych melodies and effects layers create a remarkably chilled out end to a colossal album. Of course, MAMMUTHUS’ final minute is another cataclysmic riff drop just to keep you on your toes before fading into obscurity.
Imperator has an alluring psychedelic magic but it is fervent and potent in its reverence for a solid, well-constructed riff that shatters your skull with maximum impact. Over the three years between their self-titled EP and Imperator, MAMMUTHUS have honed their songwriting considerably, creating a solid foundation on which to build in the future.
Rating: 8/10
Imperator is set for release on July 7th via self-release.
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