LIVE REVIEW: Ufomammut @ The Garage, London

Summer is definitely winding down, the temperature has dropped and there a fine drizzle falling on those who did not get the notice of the delay in opening doors, it’s worth the wait though. These keen beans are here for a stacked line up stock full of mind-altering grooves to take them away from this mortal plane through a texture and riff filled land. UFOMAMMUT have been making some seriously crushing but enlightening tunes for twenty years now and have an impressively varied discography of psychedelic stoner, doom drone and sludge so expectations are high (not just those who have partaken in a certain herb).

MORAG TONG are pushed forward to a 7:30 p.m. start much to the (probable) annoyance of some who have been standing in the queue since 6pm but to the delight of late comers/people who saw the updated start time and extended curfew. So, they play to a relatively busy crowd at The Garage. Starting out the night which looks promised to be packed with varying depths of psychedelia by pounding out low and slow filthy sludgy doom with the added twist of drummer Adam Asquith belting out gnarly vocals to match the thunderous drumming. They also break down into moments of blissful grooves that carry the crowd away to another dimension, which is likely to be the theme of the night as each band pushes the boundaries of time and space.

Rating: 8/10

MONOLORD, a trio from Sweden are groovy and hypnotic but crushingly heavy at the same time and after witnessing them on the huge Roundhouse Stage at Desertfest, it’s nice to see them in a much smaller intimate and darkened venue. They play Last Leaf from the new album, explaining excitedly it’s for the first time live, and due to it being the heaviest track on a relatively mellow album it is well received. They power through a good variety from their discography and come back for an encore with the possibly predictable but still awesome Empress Rising which initiates an enthused synchronised headbanging trance. They are undoubtedly the MONOLORD everyone knows and loves but unfortunately, there is nothing particularly outstanding or new.

Rating: 7/10

Italians UFOMAMMUT are celebrating their 20th anniversary so it’s a pretty special occasion and they are simply spectacular. The three piece who have remained members from 1999, fill the now packed venue with psychedelic experimental noise ascending to beyond the heavens and plunging back down to the depths with mammoth like heaviness when vocalist Urlo whips out his bass and the crushing riffs kick in. Like a magical concoction of a cross between previous band MONOLORD and the crushing industrial vibes of GODFLESH, UFOMAMMUT provide a sonic treat for the senses, punishing and soothing as they take the audience through space and beyond the cosmos. Urlo‘s vocals are laden with effects, echoey and otherworldly and standout against the obliterating riffs and monolithic drumming reaching epic proportions which leaves jaws dropping lower and lower until they are being picked up off the floor when the trip to comes to its magnificent finale.

Rating: 9/10

Check out our photo gallery from the night’s action in London from Darktones Photography here: