ALBUM REVIEW: The Cursed Who Perform The Larvagod Rites – Mammoth Volume
Sitting on the southerly tip of Stångenäs peninsula at the mouth of Gullmarn fjord lies the Swedish town of Lysekil. This picturesque town in the Västra Götaland County is the home of MAMMOTH VOLUME. Originally formed in 1996, the band’s new album The Cursed Who Perform The Larvagod Rites is their first new music in 20 years. Always wanting to distinguish themselves from their contemporaries, MAMMOTH VOLUME’s unique fusion of strange and eerie melodic phrasings, off-kilter jazzy breaks and shady, subtle tempo changes became hallmarks of their sound and put them at the forefront of progressive stoner music. Now the band have returned stronger and weirder than ever; this album is sure to capture the imaginations of the masses with a fun dose of strangeness that we all need.
Conceptually, The Cursed Who Perform The Larvagod Rites is an album that explores fire ravaged wastelands, medieval castles, crumbling ruins and post-apocalyptic cities with a modern tinge, with a character that encounters many demons and ghouls along the way. As the narrative evolves and the scenes unfurl themselves, it is a listening experience that will leave an indelible mark on you, as your brain alters itself to keep up with the swirling fortunes (or misfortunes in this case) of the central protagonist. If MAMMOTH VOLUME’s latest efforts were a film, you’d have to watch it with spectacles that had lenses made up of kaleidoscopically coloured hypnotic spirals, something the constantly melting, surrealist imagination of Salvador Dali would have had a brilliant time with. Despite the band’s prog sensibilities and musical oddities, they haven’t forgotten the core aspects of stoner rock, with monumental grooves drenched in ear muffling fuzz, but they utilise them in their own distinctly unique way. As you will quickly realise, nothing is straightforward on this album. With twists and turns in bountiful supply there is something deliciously enticing about the deviation from the established stoner narrative.
Whilst you meet a vividly eclectic cast of demons, fortune tellers and literary figures, for the most part The Cursed Who Perform The Larvagod Rites is a cryptic affair. Some of it is no doubt nonsensical, but the inherent bizarreness of the music makes you believe that Jörgen Andersson is chanting some actually strange and mystical rites of passage into your subconscious. Everything weird and wonderful is at play here; the way the band seamlessly and freely move between tempos is hypnotic, as each song possess its own unique enchantments. Shifting the dynamics and gradually layering each song with lavish synths and string layers, possibly a mandolin too as heard on Want To Join Us? Come Back Later! which gives the album a folky angle to work from as well as stoner and prog. MAMMOTH VOLUME’s feast of audible delights offers surprises with every few bars. Another key feature of their sound is their whimsical ballad writing, with intricate melancholic acoustic sections launching into big riff sections that could lead you to believe that they’re the more relaxed and slightly stranger cousins of prog metal giants OPETH.
The Kuleshow Effect opens the album in ordered stoner fashion – big, slow tempo riffs and soaring vocal melodies, both of which are underpinned by an eerie female vocal and mesmerising lead guitars. Diablo IV is where MAMMOTH VOLUME really crank up the strange; after easing us in with the opener, it’s this track which sets the tone for the album with hulking, hip swaying grooves interjected with obscure, swirling keys that sound as if they’ve been extracted from a vintage video game. Medieval Torture Device brings in the band’s prog tendencies, with a brilliantly crafted melodic riff that evolves as the song goes on – this is the most relaxed song on the album despite the macabre name. Want To Join Us? Come Back Later! is a six-minute epic that has many fascinating layers and continues some of the shifting grooves laid down in Medieval Torture Device. Osteoporos is a melancholic ballad of sorts, as acoustic guitar chords and synth effects build a forlorn atmosphere, the sombre vocal melodies contain a relatable sadness. The Lightwedge 60’s Race, Zombie Piccolos And The German picks the energy right back up; big riffs and the signature echoed lead melodies drive the song forward. Final track Diablo V – Lanternsong is an absolute fever dream of a song with a narrator and folky instruments that defy explanation.
After a 20 year absence it is an absolute delight to see MAMMOTH VOLUME come back stronger and weirder than ever before. It takes a quirky imagination and total cohesion to pull off something this beautifully surreal. The Cursed Who Perform The Larvagod Rites puts this Swedish quartet right back to the top of the eccentric pyramid of progressive stoner.
Rating: 8/10
The Cursed Who Perform The Larvagod Rites is set for release on August 19th via Blues Funeral Recordings.
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