Mammoth WVH
Mammoth WVH

Mammoth WVH. The first time I read this name, I thought I stumbled upon the release of Volkswagen's new multivan. Instead, it was something as unpronounceable as it was interesting. But let's go step by step.

Wolfgang Van Halen (the acronym tells us this) is none other than the beloved son of the late Eddie Van Halen, who passed away prematurely in October 2020 due to a terrible illness.

“Mammoth” is none other than the name of Eddie Van Halen's first band (which later became “Van Halen”). It's said that little Wolfgang, nicknamed Wolfie, loved the pseudonym so much that it was his dad's idea to save it throughout his childhood, hoping to make it his own in the future.

And so it was. The project started as a solo endeavor while Wolfgang was still part of Van Halen and before they disbanded. Papa Eddie had long sensed that there was considerable talent in his young son, so much so that he wanted him in the band as a bassist from the tender age of sixteen.

Today, Wolfgang is a talented multi-instrumentalist (bass, drums, guitar, piano) who has created and recorded an album all by himself, purely as a challenge with himself, clearly inspired by what Dave Grohl had already done before him. At this point, there are two reasons that pushed the young Van Halen to form a band: the desire to use the beloved old pseudonym kept in the box of dreams for years and the objective impossibility of performing live with only two hands available. The formation of Mammoth WVH thus sees among its ranks, in addition to the young founder, Frank Sidoris and Jon Jourdan on guitar, Ronnie Ficarro on bass, and Garrett Whitlock (of Tremonti) on drums.

The composition of the self-titled album began in 2015 and was completed in 2017, but its release was put on hold for years. Eddie Van Halen's illness was in an advanced stage, and Wolfgang had decided to take time away from music to rightfully dedicate it to his father.

The first single, “Distance,” will be released on November 16, 2020, a month after Eddie's death (it's dedicated to him). The album instead will hit the shelves on June 11, 2021, four months after the announcement of its release.

The sound of the 14 tracks (17 for the recently released Deluxe Edition) is largely influenced by the previous collaboration with Mark Tremonti's band. Wolfgang was part of it as a bassist, replacing Brian Marshall (Alter Bridge) between 2012 (only for live shows) and 2016, and with them, he made two albums (Cauterize and Dust). For those who are fans of Tremonti like me, this peculiarity is particularly evident and makes the album sound more mature, technical, and innovative.

The first track, “Mr.Ed,” might immediately seem like a direct reference to Papa Eddie, something that Wolfgang immediately denied during a promotional interview. The vocals begin to tell how difficult it is to reach your goals from your starting point. We get a first taste of technique with the opening riffs, all, however, quite subdued, in hindsight, compared to what we will hear later.

“Horribly Right” and “Epiphany” warm up the pick and shake the strings, piquing interest.

“Don’t back down” pushes us towards headbanging, and we cannot resist; the title is eloquent. The song is accompanied by a video (linked at the end), in which we see the multi-instrumentalist Wolfgang performing in a rehearsal room, entrusting the instruments to his three monochorionic (or monotone?) and somewhat comical twins.

The very melodic vocals stand out in “Resolve,” “You’ll Be The One,” and the title track “Mammoth.” As reported by critics, each piece has different compositional peculiarities, but the common thread in the lyrics is reflection on life and the recent events that have affected the author's life.

“Circles” expands the discourse through a melancholic and moving ballad. It talks about the loss of a friend and wonders if enough was done for him during the time spent together, while waiting to meet again.

“The Big Picture” shoulders a trailing melancholy, trying nonetheless to lighten it with rock still sprinkled with cynicism:

“That’s enough

You just might start a war today

That's enough

Don't go and throw it away”

“Think It Over” is a rediscovered optimism and in my opinion, one of the most exciting episodes of the album. “You’re To Blame” and “Feel” have a frenetic rhythm and are like a stone, leading unsurprisingly to the penultimate track, “Stone.” However, the title is misleading, as we find a bradycardic and syncopated piece, offering halfway a valuable solo by Wolfgang in collaboration with Frank Sidoris.

The album closes with “Distance,” the first single released and a tear-jerking song. Written some time ago as a reflection on the inevitable, it is a heartfelt dedication to father Eddie, a thank you for everything that was and for the legacy left. Left intelligently at the end of the first publication, the piece was, in my opinion, somewhat “polluted” in the Deluxe Edition (an Ep should have been considered separately) by the long tail of the three additional tracks “Talk&Walk,” “As Long As You’re Not You,” and the closing song “Goodbye.” These are adrenaline-pumping and somewhat detached from the discourse of the “old” tracks but serve to demonstrate just how much our Wolfgang has grown in awareness and talent.

I wanted to talk about this first work by Mammoth WVH because I believe it deserves to be considered as the beginning of the journey of someone who is already a valid artist. Beyond the name written on the document, here cleverly hidden behind a mysterious acronym all to be discovered.