Time Signature Infearnatural...

Genre: psychedelic doom metal

Italian space doomsters Ufomammut are back with another slab of crushingly heavy psychedelic doom metal.

After a spacey and atmospheric intro which slowly and materfully builds up power and intensity, slowliy leading the listener into the dark and doom-laden psychedelic scenario that characterizes the entire album, in the form of the almost 14 minutes long 'Empireum', 'Auerum' kicks in with a slow and lumbering doomy riff accompanied by spaced out effects (which also figured in the intro), and when the drums and the riff proper are initiated, there can be no doubt that we are dealing with heavy doom metal with a touch of psych and a touch of noise (in the form of a heavily distorted bass).

True to the genre, the songs on Oro take their time in building up, and repetition of heavy riffage is an overarhing feature of the album, as is the use of sudden changes from one slow pace to another with the occasional detour into more uptempo, but no less bleak and oppressive, passages. It's simple,, but absolutely crushing and heavy. 'Infernatural' petty much continues down the same road as 'Aureum', subjecting the listener to slow and heavy sections characterized by bleakness and a minimalistic dark psychedelia. 'Magickon' takes us back into more atmospheric terriitory, slowly building up towards heavy and doomy carnage, and is, with its 7:57 minutes of running time, the shortes track of the album, and 'Mindomime' follows a similar pattern.

While the music on this release is mostly instrumental, Oro does feature vocals, but these are kept quite low ni the mix and panned out so as to have a more atmospheric effects than serving as the central carrier of melody. This, of course, contributes to the generation of bleakness, which is already very strong due to the focus on repetition and the absence of lead guitars and any other overt carrier of melody. It all reside in the riffage, the heavy drum beats and the heavily distorted bass.

Let's face it Oro is not for everyone, and I think that even some fans of doom metal might find it challenging, but if you like heavy, spacey and bleak doom metal with lots of oppressive psychedelia and a focus on repetition, then chances are that Ufomammut's latest album will be right up your alley.

(review originally posted at seaoftranquility.org)

Pelata Taking cues from legendary acts such as Neurosis and Electric Wizard, Italian Sludge-merchants Ufomammut release Idolum, their fifth full-length album, upon an unsuspecting world. With the raw aggression of a rabid wooly mammoth coupled with the psychedelic shadings of early Pink Floyd, Ufomammut’s sound churns and swells like an ocean of Post Metal muck, lapping at the jagged shoreline of despair and sheer, raw emotion.

The songs, however long, seem to have simple, repetitive arrangements carrying the aural tonnage along the 66 minutes and 4 second running time. This does not, however, bring boredom while listening to, I mean being beaten about the ears and soul by, Idolum. The parts, swirling in and out of each other, move and crescendo until the very blood in one’s vein’s starts to bubble and steam. One can feel the rage and desperation rising ever so slowly inside them as the music flows from one track to the next.

“Stigma” is a beast of an opening track, crushing everything it encounters. The mix is noticed early on as being almost bigger than any speakers can handle. “Ammonia” is sheer, psychedelic hypnotica, complete with female vocal layers giving the track a more haunting element. “Void…Elephantom”, all 27 minutes of it, imprisons the listener in its bottomless depths and holds them there until it subsides. It rumbles along from ungodly heavy riffs into droning atmospheres and back again and, as cliché as it sounds, is like a journey into the void. I would not be surprised by the need for some to scream in primal release once it’s all over.

All in all, this is an album not to be missed. To say its heavy would be a gross understatement of the facts. It’s an album that has to be taken in and processed, not simply listened to. I suggest headphones in the dark, that’s what I did. Most times I felt like I was being carried along by something much bigger than myself and, as I sit here writing this, I’m ready to go again.