A new album from Ufomammut is always a special thing. It’s already 5 years since their last “8” which took me on an interplanetary trip and earned 8.5 out of 10 from me. Well, you would have thought that a much-anticipated album would have led me to get to grips with it sooner and get my thoughts out to you. I apologise to you, the band and the editor of Ave Noctum but any release by this band must be given appropriate time to savour and cannot be rushed. (excuses, excuses).
If you are a fan of things heavy, expansive and crushing then Ufomammut will already be lodged in your collection. Fenice is their 9th full length and they now have an extra member – Ciccio who is credited as Sound Lord, joining the original trio of Urio, Poia and Levre.
As much as I would love to give a track by track breakdown of this album it is just not possible. As I explained to the Ed. In my mealy mouthed excuses to why this review is so late, every time I put the album on pen in hand I end up drifting off into space with the deliciously huge noise they make and forget where I am or whether indeed I actually exist! This is great for alleviating work stress but not so good for writing music reviews. Suffice to say “Fenice” is Ufomammut at their best with a twist. In the past Ufomammut have made a name for themselves firing the listener off into the cosmos, opening the ears and mind to the furthest reaches of a psychedelic sonic galaxy. On Fenice the band have chosen to be more introspective and create something which is a more mindful listen, making me as the listener lose myself within the rhythms and refrains rather than space walking out into the never never. There are more synths here than in previous albums (I am guessing thanks to the new Sound Lord) and vocal effects are used more widely throughout.
Opener “Duat” starts spacey and light enough – utter fraud though. Just as I thought (before I read the accompanying blurb) that I was set for a gentle float into orbit a fuck off riff kicks in and bombastic tribal drumming knocked my spacesuit for six. Bastards. This is a ten and half minute study in riffology filled with sexy grooves and neck muscle building chops. Fenice was written as one continuous track broken into 6 parts, I suppose to make it seem less ominous to the listener. Of course you could add individual tracks to a playlist or even *shivers* shuffle(!) the track order, but you would be decimating your experience. Ufomammut always take the listener on a journey and this album is no different. If you were to listen to “8” then “Fenice” it would be the equivalent of being cosmic explorers landing on an uncharted planet being led by the trembling hand by locals armed with massive speakers. “Psychostasia” is a psyche groove based around a throbbing bass and electronics that has a strangely gothic feel – very misty moods here. This vibe continues into “Metamorphoenix” which is a creeping eerie tune that seems to build and build in millimetres rather than chunks before lightly segueing into the brilliant “Pyramind” – a huge fuzzy riff, distorted melodic yet primal scream vocals and a drum beat that gets in your head and blasts all other thoughts and worries out like a water cannon to the synapses. By the time “Empryros” bludgeons out of the back end of the album I feel delightfully exhausted by the earthy journey the Italian mavericks have taken me on.
Ufomammut have again delivered a holiday for the mind and body with their sonic prescription. What a trip!
(9/10 Matt Mason)
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