Ufomammut
Oro - Opus Primum

The Ufomammut have become, over the years, the AC/DC of Psychedelic Stoner Doom Metal.

Indeed, it is hard, after the excellent Snailking, year of grace 2002, to find and notice substantial differences in the subsequent three albums released by the Tortona combo.

This "Oro - Opus Primum" therefore, differs little or not at all from the last one (I would say "dull", at least as far as I am concerned "Eve"); the flow of the tracks that make up this work is to be perceived as a long sound/mental stream, with no particular holds to grasp, the album in question is to be listened to from beginning to end (read: our songwriting equals a flat zero) of its fifty-minute duration, in order to better delve into this magnificent dark forest made of ambient drones and monstrous space creatures that Ufomammut seem to want to depict through their instruments and make appear in the mind of the unsuspecting listener, through their long and obscuring compositions.

As they say... Take it or Leave it.

If after listening to Snailking, the group already with Lucifer Songs showed the rope, due to ideas that over time have become worn out and overused, then I would tell you to move on, and not to give any attention to this "Oro - Opus Primum". Otherwise, if you are not tired of listening to the "usual" album by Ufomammut, stay glued to your seats and make this latest chapter just released yours; you will like it and be fascinated by it like all the previous chapters.

Where is the snag in playing Psychedelic and Instrumental Stoner/Doom Metal, after all?

The Ufi more or less always play the same game, stuffing the first minutes of their compositions with ambient electronics, only to make them explode into ear-splitting, funereal, and cadenced stoner/doom riffs. And this game started to show the rope, already since 2003, so it's been 9 years since then.

However, for the group's enthusiasts, it will surely be a pleasure to see that the album has been released on vinyl with a special edition, at the modest price of 35 clams, on the Supernatural Cat website.

Personally, I find neither steps forward nor steps back compared to previous albums, except at least for a slightly greater inclination not to overly annoy the listener with overly long ambient parts, as was done in the past, to focus more actively on their hazy stoner/doom progressions... truly the highlight of their compositions.