Celebrating their twenty fifth anniversary this year, Italian power trio doomsters Ufomammut are unleashing onto the world their thirteenth album, ‘Hidden’, as well as announcing a host of club and festival shows to support the release. To my chagrin, on going through my back collection of their work I discovered the last release of theirs I have is 2015’s ‘Ecate’, and I was behind the times by three LPs. Well, with a leap of almost a decade that included a hiatus and a change in drummer, what has changed? Well, in a world where some folks have the attention span of a concussed gold fish and demand constantly new things, I’m glad to say that Ufomammut have stuck to their tried and tested guns.
‘Crookhead’ starts off with a barrage of the sound effects that are so much a part of their studio work and on stage identity, heralding a wave of thunderous riffing, fuzzed out bass, and barrage of drumming that relentlessly pummels the listener for ten minutes plus without respite. As massive as the track sounds playing from my speakers, I can just imagine that when allied to the walls of custom amps the band travel with a live audience would be left positively bruised by the experience. ‘Kismet’ gives the listener no chance to rest, opening with a more frenetic sound, elements of Prog lacing through the doom in hypnotic loops, threatening to lull the unwary listener into a trance before slapping them awake again with a heavy sonic hand.
Follow up ‘Spidher’ blasts past in an almost unseemly four-minute sprint, but in no way does it ease up the onslaught, being dense with the sort of riffage that will have the long of hair and wide of flare stamping slowly along in a THC fog. ‘Mausoleum’ sees the band returning to the sort of epic piece that was once the preserve of such bands as Yes, but with none of the pastoral lightness of those musical pioneers. Indeed, the topographic oceans through which Ufomammut sail are pitch black and heavily polluted by a dirty sludge that leaves each wave moving like a tar tsunami, slow, crushing, and relentless. What they do, however, have in common with the aforementioned progenitors of Prog is the ability to add subtle changes in texture and style during the track to make it mesmeric rather than just repetitive, the addition of effects to the staple of guitar, bass and drums adding a darkly psychedelic undercurrent. ‘Leeched’ introduces a dark menace with the opening riff, promising to deliver a nightmare, a promise they don’t shy from, the creep of the track matching the slow advance of the creature for which it is named, merging into closer ‘Soulost’, an almost desolate number that harkens back to the early experimental days of post Syd Pink Floyd with its chanted lyrics and discordant guitar work.
If you are looking for something light and uplifting to have you tapping your toes to the beat, well, ‘Hidden’ is definitely not for you. If, however, you want to immerse yourself into a world of dark aural invention, then Ufomammut have you covered.
(8.5/10 Spenny)
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