Ufomammut
Godlike Snake

Year 2000, the world was about to end according to some due to the "Millennium Bug", but in the end, we were saved and nothing happened, yet Ufomammut had already prepared for the apocalypse by releasing this "Godlike Snake" their first work, excluding the demo "Satan" from 1999.

This album is definitely less mature than the subsequent ones, but it is understandable, however, Our Own already eight years ago, marked with indelible heaviness what the "Ufomammut" world would have been in the years to come.

Much more pronounced, in this work, are Stoner influences rather than Sludge as in later works. The opening track "Ufo Pt.1" immediately welcomes you into a darkness that is difficult to imagine, with extremely heavy guitar riffs and obsessive bass lines, with a constantly present drum almost awakening the listener hypnotized by the massive riffs at every roll.

Sampled voices, coming from space, walls of distortion accompany every single note, "Satan" has a deadly attack to say the least, it seems like actually slipping into a dark hell and dealing with the Lord of the Underworld, absolutely rarefied atmospheres, which pair well with the space sounds that often intervene to disrupt the heavy distortions.

"Oscillator" almost seems to traverse the listener's mind, in a kind of hyperspace where nothing can resist, finally going completely insane and being carried away by the sounds that envelop everything.

Even in this first work, Ufomammut seems to cover everything with a dark molasses from which only with cunning and ingenuity can one try to break free.

Clearly, reviewing this album eight years after its release, it does not stand out as the band's best album, but it’s amusing to notice how the differences that exist between "Godlike Snake" and "Idolum" perfectly explain what the roots of the Italian Mastodons were, and towards which peaks they are heading.

Pieces like "Smoke" undoubtedly become cornerstones of this group, on first listen it feels like embarking on a dark but extremely fascinating journey, with these obsessive and defacing sounds, a countdown towards the infinite darkness that covers the entire world in which the Mammoth seems to move almost gracefully.

And the image of the countdown is no coincidence, the countdown, marked by the almost robotic voice, takes you away and, closing your eyes, you arrive where there is nothing but music and boundlessness.

The time dilations Ufomammut have accustomed us to are evident in this work as well, "Hozomeen" with its 20 minutes is certainly a journey of its own within the album, a kind of internal path to follow attentively full of dangers, but that in the end will lead to a very high peak!

In conclusion, Ufomammut presents themselves to the world with this "Godlike Snake" which stands as an Italian album first and foremost, considering it was recorded well eight years ago when very few things sounded like this "Space Elephant" here.

Excellent work!

TRACKLIST:

 1 Ufo Pt1

 2 Satan

 3 Oscillator

 4 Snake

 5 Zerosette

 6 Smoke

 7 Nowhere

 8 Superjunkhead

 9 Hozomeen

10 Mammut