https://www.high-endrolex.com/18

Review & Full Album Premiere: Tunguska Mammoth, Breathless

Posted in audiObelisk, Reviews on May 8th, 2018 by JJ Koczan

Tunguska Mammoth Breathless

[Click play above to stream Tunguska Mammoth’s Breathless in its entirety. Album is out May 11 on Deathbound Records.]

Consider for a moment the Quebecois regional delicacy poutine. The dish in its most basic form consists of french fries and cheese curds smothered in hot gravy. Variations exist in other regions of Canada and the Northern US, but poutine itself, which sometimes adds sausage or really just about anything else to the mix, is identified as being distinctly of Quebec. In thinking about Breathless, the Deathbound Records-issued second long-player from neo-dudely Montreal four-piece Tunguska Mammoth, I bring up poutine for this reason: Quebec didn’t invent french fries. It didn’t invent cheese curds or gravy. And yet, by putting these elements together in a specific way, it was able to span a recipe that has gained affection both in and out of Canada’s borders.

Similarly, Tunguska Mammoth‘s new collection of eight tracks running 45 minutes doesn’t necessarily create a new style out of thin air, but it adopts various pieces of other styles, whether it’s the shout-and-chug aggression of closer “We are the Night,” the Amorphis-style death metal growls after the harmonies of “Yellow Sign” or the modern heavy rock nod of the opening title-track. The band — guitarist/vocalist Maxime Bellerose, guitarist Mathieu Savage, bassist Paolo Di Stefano and drummer/recording engineer/mixer Pierre-Hughes Rondeau (who recorded everything except the drums themselves, which were done by Marc-o at The Grid — didn’t invent the heavy riffing, melodies and more aggressive factors at play throughout Breathless, but by putting it all together in the specific way they do, they make a familiar sound their own.

They’re not the only band to do this either, and yet, Breathless is striking in executing its sense of identity. Whether it’s the Torche-style harmonies and roll toward the end of “New Sun” or the earlier, more severe metallurgy (and metallurgency) of “Phenix,” Bellerose resides well in the frontman position and is forward enough in Rondeau‘s mix to be a significant presence without necessarily being overbearing. “Phenix” is one of two inclusions on Breathless with lyrics in French, and the other is the later “Le Vent” — one per side, it would seem — but whatever language they’re working in, Tunguska Mammoth have little trouble getting their hard-hitting point across.

Tunguska Mammoth

The production is smooth and professional, but there’s still impact in the drums and heft in the bass and guitar, and the clarity only becomes an asset in terms of highlighting the songwriting and the delivery on the whole, which even in the screams of “Le Vent,” remains under control for the duration, the band skillfully steering their material onto one side or the other of the line between heavy rock and metal, led by the guitars and finding room for both sides to peak through on second and longest track “Kings and Queens” (6:40), which turns after its midsection into a snare-punctuated cacophony of shouts and meatier riffing, a wah lead poking through all the emergent low end. “Yellow Sign” seems to follow a similar linear course, though the culmination it leads to is more aggressive and darker in its realization, and it ends the presumed side A with marked ferocity.

If this is to be the textured fabric — sorry to move off the poutine analogy; nothing against them, but I’m kind of tired of thinking of cheese curds — from which Breathless is woven, so be it. As they move onto side B, “New Sun” finds Bellerose working in layers of cleaner vocals and harsher growls as Rondeau adds double-kick flair and an impressive guitar solo leads the way out. “Le Vent” returns to the French lyrics, as noted, and the penultimate “Lily” provides a standout moment for bringing in choral vocals from Anne Lauzière and Pascal Desjardins and a special guest appearance from Mississippi BonesJared Collins, who brings a Soundgardenesque touch to the uptempo, rocking progression he tops — a decided departure from the screams in the second half of “Le Vent” — and sets up the chunkier finish of the six-plus-minute “We are the Night,” which would have its work cut out for it in summarizing everything Tunguska Mammoth have heretofore presented on their second long-player.

Instead, the finale moves with precision through post-Baroness modern heavy one more time before ending with a few last shouts and a fading rumble. The precise execution in the last moments speaks to the crispness of Breathless as a whole, and whatever Tunguska Mammoth might at any given moment have in common with sludge in terms of groove or general aggro-ness, their root is far more metallic than it is hardcore or punk, and that comes through for sure in the songwriting. As Breathless follows five years behind the band’s 2013 self-titled debut, I’m not sure I’d look for a follow-up anytime soon, but as a band, they sound hungry and ready to engage audience well beyond the confines of their hometown.

Tunguska Mammoth on Thee Facebooks

Tunguska Mammoth on Twitter

Tunguska Mammoth on Instagram

Deathbound Records website

Deathbound Records on Bandcamp

Tags: , , , , , ,