Wednesday 19 June 2013

Mammoth Storm - Demo 2013 (album review)

By far the heaviest of the new breed of bands to come out this year is Swedish trio Mammoth Storm.  When I listen to this I think how incredible it would be for the Liverpool band Conan to play some shows in Sweden with Salem's Pot and Mammoth Storm.  Then I get greedy and think of a way to try to bring that 1000 gees heaviness to my neck of the woods for a Saturday or Sunday night show.  A man can dream.  Needless to say it would be the heaviest show in the history of western civilization.  It would be the closest thing to re-creating the Byford Dolphin explosive decrompression incident from a stage.

Mammoth Storm's music is the kind of organism that can survive in extreme environments.  While the otherwise fragile human body can only withstand so much strain, it's a rare and amazing feat that these three lads from Sweden can even be in the same room as their instruments, let alone play them and survive.  This is the soundtrack to an underwater volcanic vent.  This is music that takes a casual stroll on the ocean floor, whistling with its hands in its pockets.  I'm saying it's extremely heavy and durable is what I'm saying.

So now you know what to expect going in.  You've got your pressure suit on, you've got your respirator in your mouth and you're ready to dive into the molten-making caldera of Mammoth Storm.  What is this stuff all about anyway?  Energetic stoner doom with a nod toward the national heroes of the Land of Nod, Sleep themselves and Electric Wizard.  Vocals are of the gruff, gravel-gurgled variety, a tough sounding voice for a tough sounding band.  It's not the kind of thing you haven't heard before, but rarely have you heard it done this well.  This is certainly one of the most promising demos released this year and you hope they never lose that heavy, heavy edge moving forward.  In some twisted way, the demo is almost too professionally recorded, you want to hear this band at its muddiest, swampiest, most imperfect form possible.  Something in what they do brings that impulse out.  It's music to hasten decay, an ink blot which turns into a shadow which then feeds on all that is bright and vibrant and begins to grow to eventually encompass the totality of the earth.

There are so many nerd debates in the forum of music, one is originality versus orthodoxy.  Now, I don't want to turn Mammoth Storm's review into a soap box or anything, but there's a lot to be said for a band that doesn't necessarily bring a whole lot that's new to the table but gets it bang on the money regardless.  Riffs that sway drunkenly and shamble like rotting corpses and vocals from putrefied chords drag out those feelings of discovering Electric Wizard or Dopelord for the first time and feast on their guts.

Come to think of it, this has got to be the best demo of the first half of 2013, at least of releases that are explicitly labelled as demos.  Naga's demo is excellent (see the review), Crowlord's is amazing too (review coming soon), but that got taken down from their bandcamp page and there are a number of others that have placed different bands of various styles on the watchlist for future developments, but Mammoth Storm's heaviness and spot on riffs can't be denied their place atop the mountain.

Of course I look forward to what comes next from the band but these three tracks, all of which are over seven minutes in length will keep me plenty busy in the meantime.  Dig in.  If you like heavy as balls, downtuned, monstrous music with just the right amount of catchiness without the pop sheen then Mammoth Storm is highly recommended.

Highlights include: "Volcanic Winter" and "Ancient Apocalypse"

Rating: 5/5


Total Run Time: 23:39

Daniel Arvidsson - Bass, Vocals
Christer Ström - Guitars
Emil Ahlman - Drums, Organ

From: Parts Unkown, Sweden

Genre: Doom, Stoner, Sludge

Reminds me of: Belzebong, Conan, Dopelord, Mamont, Mara, Salem's Pot

Release Date: May 12, 2013

Mammoth Storm on facebook

1 comment:

  1. Nice review indeed. You picture the music just brilliant from a personal perspective. Great work!

    ReplyDelete

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