Mammatus Release New LP Heady Mental
I had to look up how long it’s been since Mammatus last released an album. According to the Excel file in which I carefully log each new addition to my collection according to artist, title, year of release, label, method of acquisition (promo or retail, sometimes gift), format and label catalog number, The Coast Explodes, their second album, came out in 2007 on Holy Mountain (catalog number 8516, if you’re curious). As it was preceded in 2006 by Mammatus‘ self-titled debut, it’s all the more striking that it’s taken six years for the band’s third album to manifest. Nonetheless, the day has arrived, and Heady Mental has been released on LP via Spiritual Pajamas for public consumption.
Mammatus had some decent momentum in the works coming off the second record, but six years is a long time. Heady Mental brings three new, probably extended tracks, and can be ordered through Spiritual Pajamas here by anyone inclined.
Here’s more info on the LP:
Mammatus / Heady Mental
Spiritual Pajamas
If you’ve seen mammatus clouds in person, you probably noticed the way those massive formations hang heavy like wilting and bulbous gray-blue sacs, bubbling from heaven towards us. Curiously, as monstrous as they look, these gentle giants are not portents of a storm; they cradle the sky, high above where they belong. How can something so heavy float?
If you’ve seen Mammatus the band in concert, you probably noticed how visual their sound is. Guitarist Nicholas Emmert sports a one-piece full-body flight-suit, bassist Chris Freels dons a space cape, and drummer Aaron Emmert steers the ship, staring straight ahead with flashing laser eyewear. The homespun wizard-cum-trippy-dad-at-a-campfire look that they’ve adopted softens the blow of the heavy aural trickery afoot.
Heady Mental is the perfect title for the third Mammatus album, for it rests heavily in the moldy caverns of heavy metal history, but doesn’t get too comfortable before revealing its true colors. This is music for flight, music for the sky, and music for the things that lie beyond. These men are searching for the source through sound. Repetitions of themes with variants spread over four separate songs that act as a whole. Heady Mental functions as a soundtrack to the Mammatus Brain: Heavy / Airy, Earth / Sky, Man / Creator, Complete and Grok’d.
For the obligatory band reference, one could start by imaging what The Fucking Champs’ IV would have sounded like if they had been more into the McLaughlin / Santana LP Love, Devotion, Surrender instead of Iron Maiden’s Piece of Mind.
1. Brain Drain
2. Main Brain
3. Brainbow / Brain Train
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mammatus/78621323321
http://midheaven.com/item/heady-mental-by-mammatus-lp
