Review: Acid Mammoth ‘Supersonic Megafauna Collision’
First of all, there are two things that appealed to me straight away with Acid Mammoth; that name is absolute genius and that logo is even better. Seriously, what a perfect, perfect logo. I love it.
Meanwhile, the new record from Greek stoner doom monoliths Acid Mammoth is Supersonic Megafauna Collision (another inspired combination of words) and follows 2021’s Caravan which I also enjoyed and its out now through Heavy Psych Sounds.
Now, what Acid Mammoth actually sound like will not exactly take you by surprise you. The opening title track’s pounding drums and fuzzed up bluesy groove is just classic stoner doom material and is no surprise for people who have followed this band before. But what I’ve always enjoyed about their take on the genre is just how much they get ‘it’. Their grooves are not overbearingly fuzzy, their swaggering blues influence isn’t overbearing, their trippy atmospheres don’t descend into masturbatory nonsense.
The delightfully stompy Fuzzorgasm (Keep on Screaming) is a perfect example, found somewhere in the middle of Kyuss, Cathedral and Electric Wizard in a place where you can sit and smoke ’em or boogie to your black heart’s content. It’s so catchy, that main riff will be swimming through your head for weeks as well as the Layne Staley-esque croon of frontman Chris Babalis Jr. That voice suits this kind of music so well, adding just that little bit of grit into silky smooth, fuzzed up doom.
The opening title track’s pounding drums and fuzzed up bluesy groove is just classic stoner doom…
Garden Of Bones is a rumbling psych doom sermon, where Acid Mammoth‘s more trippy guitar moments serpentine their way across a righteous groove, while Atomic Shaman is a peek into a world where Mastodon lost the progressive stuff and stuck themselves into an Electric Wizard groove. One With The Void is the creeping Sabbathian ballad, where nothing really heavy kicks in but those clean guitars are just as sinister as the heavier tones of closer Tusko’s Last Trip, where the band’s modus operandi is revealed in full, rumbling splendour.
It begins in the tranquil clean guitar and an Ozzy-esque wail, while those big old riffs come rolling back in like waves. Is there even a little hint of organ in the background? It’s got a really nice quieter section in the middle too where a little anticipation is built for the gloriously cutting solo and lumbering final stride towards oblivion.
Supersonic Megafauna Collision is a record that absolutely delivers on your expectations but has plenty of diverse moments to kill any chances of boredom. Mediocrity in stoner doom is a remarkably common occurrence, but Acid Mammoth‘s work has this undefinable magic about it that I just can’t put my finger on. It’s probably the massive grooves though, a more nuanced set than Caravan‘s but not lacking in heaviness. If they ever manage to reanimate the mammoth, let’s hope it is as majestic as Supersonic Megafauna Collision.
Label: Heavy Psych Sounds
Band Links: Facebook | Bandcamp | Spotify | Instagram
Scribed by: Sandy Williamson
