Ufomammut
Eve

I am anxious. But also a little scared. I liked "Idolum", close to the unreachable "Snailking" and listened to it until it was worn out. Anxious to hear "Eve". Scared that it might be a disappointment after having adored the trio's previous works.

So I try to clear my mind specifically from the sounds of Mammuth, and in general from "heavy" music: I try to listen to "EvE" in the purest way possible.

Darkness. Headphones. Bed. Open window. To which I add, upon the second listen, a bit of Substance.

"EvE", as we were saying. A concept about the first woman on earth, the first rebel, the first condemned. "EvE", a monolithic one-track album, 45 minutes divided into five movements that flow into each other, distinguishable but not divisible (do yourself a favor and do not listen to it in mp3, the breaks between the songs would be truly unbearable). Ufomammut seems to continue their search for their personal path to Doom in the wake of the previous release, further embedding their ambient plots on the heavily sludge/doom/drone nerve, expanding their musical area: heavy psych as modern psychedelia that (obviously?) comes to terms with drone (extremely heavy riffs and hypnotic samples repeated endlessly), adding organs, sometimes cavernous sometimes ethereal vocals, a super-amplified bass (the VU-Meter needles are constantly in the red). The five parts are constructed to become a musical unicum, often with an "ambient" initial part that then grows in violence, only to dissolve again into the next part.

The first part, which opens with "space-like" sounds and samples, with vocal inserts reminding me of deep and low Buddhist chants, starts as a flow that becomes increasingly impetuous ("Eve Pt.1" and "Eve Pt.2"), descending from an ethereal and astral stream into a whirlpool that will merge into the central part ("Eve Pt.3" and "Eve Pt.4"). This is the part that convinced me the most: from the third movement, which is the most "accessible", with the "reverberated" vocals serving as a backdrop to Poia's lysergic guitar amalgam and Vita's percussion, flowing into the fourth, where Urlo alienates with even more excessive reverbs over the psychedelic and noisy outburst of the guitar that clashes with the drummer's even more obsessive rhythm. The conclusion ("Eve Pt.5"), a long instrumental (14 minutes), exhausting and suffocating, is the most mesmerizing part, with the main riff repeated throughout the piece alongside synths that transform the "song" into a sort of dark and metallic mantra.

Impressions: (forgive me for the oxymoron) visual music. As I've said before for others, this is music for meditation, for thinking and reflecting, to allow visions in one's mind. Black and dense, like the bitumen that suffocates. Red and powerful, like the rage that is perceived. Blue and melancholic, like the suggested ambient landscapes.

A great album: heavy, slow and repetitive, certainly not for everyone (don't take it as an elitist statement, but as a fact, many just can't handle this type of music).

A great album: despite the clear coordinates (Electric Wizard, OM, Neurosis, Boris...) it doesn't sound like the bands to which they can be compared. It sounds like nothing else, it's the attitude that is similar to such "luminaries", the musical composition is other than them.

A great album: it situates itself halfway (both musically and conceptually) between "Snailking" and "Idolum", marking not a step back or forward, but a horizontal evolution of the sound of the Piedmont trio.

A great album: excellently played and produced by Lorenzo Stecconi (from Lento).

Therefore, my anxiety dissolves in the black and red of this musical torrent. I like it. A lot. A must-listen for today: it's raining, the day is very gray, my impatience for everything around me is growing, and in the car, the CD player screams the music of Ufomammut.

A note of merit goes to the beautiful packaging of the vinyl edition, curated (could it have been otherwise?) by Studio Malleus.

A curiosity: Eve is structured like "Jerusalem" by Sleep (a long track of 5 movements). Ufomammut cites "Meddle" by Pink Floyd among their sources of inspiration. Indeed, it sounds like Neurosis smoking repeated joints with Matt Pike listening to the Floyd at an exaggerated volume.

And in a few hours, I am going to see them live in Massa (May 7th).

PS if I may give a piece of advice, buy the Deluxe Edition mentioned above (vinyl + CD + DVD with artwork made and printed by hand) for 60 euros or, alternatively, the "normal" edition on CD for 10 euros.