Sometimes, when I listen to Italian drone metallers Ufomammut‘s fifth album, Eve, I feel a little silly. I mean, what’s the point of anything after a record so unstoppably huge? With just one 45-minute song, the trio have managed to engineer a cannibalistic apocalypse so vivid that it’s impossible for me to come out of hearing the album without feeling like someone’s been gnawing on my leg.

Because, seriously, what is Eve if not the sound of humanity eating itself into oblivion? From the second I heard it, I knew it was going to be one of the best records to come out in 2010, and to be honest, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if, come list time at the end of this year, it’s higher than number three. It just feels so much like the culmination of everything Ufomammut have been driving toward. It’s their Dopesmoker.

The drone, the ungodly thickened tones, the immense room of it — it seems like Eve‘s sonic reach is endless and ever-expanding, and it’s one of those records where every time I hear it, I hear something new. And at this point, I’ve heard it plenty. It’s my go-to driving record for late at night when the road is empty and I’m tired and alone on the highway and there’s nothing to do but space out and be hypnotized until I can get back to the valley, roll down the windows and watch the stars die.

I thought 2008’s Idolum was as far as Ufomammut could go stylistically — and had they put out another record in that vein, I probably wouldn’t be complaining about it in the slightest — but with Eve, they’ve propelled themselves to a different realm entirely and are among the upper echelon of doomed innovators the world over. Easily one of the year’s best.

Tags: Italy, Supernatural Cat, TFFH10, Ufomammut

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 17th, 2010 at 11:18 am and is filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.