The Mammuthus hail from the Swedish city of Trollhättan, which according to an online search is the seat of Trollhättan Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden, with 59,058 inhabitants in 2019. Well, what does that little bit of googling have to do with anything? Simply put, the last review I wrote for this site was about Domkraft (see Ave Noctum passim) in which I remarked about the ability of that northern land to produce so much good music, and yet again I am encountering a band fresh to me, and getting blown away by the sheer quality on offer in ‘Last Trumpet of a Giant’.
Psyche rock goodness drips out of the speakers from the very first note of opening track ‘Pile of Gravel’, vocalist Joachim sounding like he’s fresh from a period subbing on vocals for England’s own Trippy Wicked and The Cosmic Children of the Knight, good humour and bonhomie shining through each laconically delivered line. Blues origins come to the fore in the hip swinging guitar riffs of title track ‘Last Trumpet of a Giant’, mixing a healthy slab of psychedelia into the guitar crawl to create a track that makes it sound like it could have come from the late 60’s London acid scene every bit as much as 2021 from north of Gothenburg. A hard rock swagger thrusts out of the speakers in the form of ‘Riddles’, a cocksure confidence instilled in each beat and unfussy solo. Frankly, it owes a clear debt to the Rolling Stones at their early seventies creative high point, and well, if you’re going to be influenced by anyone, you may as well be influenced by a classic, and The Mammuthus put their own spin the sound rather than just copy it (yes The Black Crowes, I’m talking about you!).
If The Stones were referenced in ‘Riddles’, it sounded to me like The Kinks were the influence for ‘Ostrich Man’, an ode to a man who hides from troubles by burying his head in the sand, the erudite lyrics sounding like they could have come from the pen of Ray Davies. It amazes me that in an age where the vocabularies of English speaking pop acts seems to be getting ever smaller and monosyllabic that a five piece from Sweden are able to create a song with the lyrical poetry of a bygone era with apparent ease. After the preceding whimsy, a stomper of a number is delivered in ‘Tombstone Rumble’, an open musical invitation to give your headbanging neck muscles a work out, whilst ‘Yanar Dag (The Burning Mountain)’ throws lashings of Southern rock slide guitar into the altogether more mellow mix, albeit the energy that bubbles throughout could easily be built on live to make this a full on crowd pleasing stamp. More classic sounds fill out the rest of the album: ‘Wildfire’ rocks out with twin guitar soloing that screams of Lizzy; the meandering ‘Wooden Walls’ lets the band flirt with slower, doomier textures; and the whole is closed out by ‘The Raven’, a slowly building anthemic number that practically demands that lighters are raised aloft by a gently swaying crowd as keyboards join in with the guitars, bass and drums to create a stadium filling sound of yesteryear.
‘Last Trumpet of a Giant’ is an album that is simultaneously immaculately put together and produced, whilst at the same time sounding natural and organic, a result of musicianship rather than the ability to manipulate computer sound files. Add in a timeless sound laced with respectful nods to their musical influences, and The Mammuthus have created an album of which they can be rightly proud, and hopefully expand their audience with.
(8/10 Spenny)
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