Wellington, New Zealand, heavy rock trio Mammuthus will self-release their debut album, Imperator, on July 7. And don’t let the fact that it’s 29 minutes long fool you, it’s an LP. The heavy-swinging chug ‘n’ rollers released their four-song self-titled debut EP in 2020, and like End Boss, whose vocalist EJ Thorpe shows up for a guest spot on Imperator closer “Formless,” Mammuthus find a niche within post-Beastwars NZ heavy, guitarist/vocalist Josh Micallef working some Sasquatch influence into the riff and vocals of second cut “Long Drive” after “Holy Goat” has taken three minutes out of your busy day to lower a bludgeon of tone and establish a perimeter of largesse like an impact zone for where his and bassist Matt Bradford‘s fuzz will land, drummer Jay Rodeo (new since the EP) signaling the change to the hook with two hits on the splash.

Both of those comparisons, I’ll note, were made in the PR wire bio below, but they’re both right (Black Sabbath and Kyuss apply more generally, but you wouldn’t call them wrong for this kind of thing ever) and supported by specific examples. At the same time, “Backdoor” finds Mammuthus — not to be confused with Mammatus, Mammathus, Ufomammut, Wooly Mammoth or Mammoth Volume, etc.; that first ‘u’ and the fact that they’re from New Zealand do some heavy lifting in distinguishing the name — works in a bluesy C.O.C.-style semi-metal double-kick later, and the centerpiece “King of the Dead” lurches out initially with a doomly presence, if still righteously fuzzed, so Micallef, Bradford and Rodeo are less beholden to one or another side of the heavy underground aural sphere than it might at first seem when “Holy Goat” swaggers through its gritty verse. They speed up in “King of the Dead” and some backing growls behind Micallef — or at least a layer of added burl — emphasize the weight surrounding while its position at the end of a presumed A-side (or the beginning of a B-side) sets an expectation for “Formless” to answer back in particularly huge fashion, which it does following “Monolith” and “Bloodworm.”

For all the chugging bulk it throws around, “King of the Dead” has a hook — Mark Mundell of Planet of the Dead does a guest spot — and its tempo variety makes the sleek middle-ground groove of “Monolith” feel like a landing point. It’s a standout either way for being entirely instrumental, and though one can hear where the initial verse lines would go, the fact that the first half of the song doesn’t shift into a chorus gives its bouncing progression more room to flourish. At 1:36, the fuzz pedal clicks off and Micallef‘s guitar moves into a floating heavy psych midsection that pulls out memories of Sungrazer maybe informed by some of Elder‘s shimmering prog-heavy, and at 3:29 into the purposeful-seeming total 4:20, Mammuthus unveil the triumph-of-riff that feels like what they named the album after. They don’t ride it for long — nothing on Imperator overstays its welcome, including the album as an entirety — but the crater is made and that makes a fitting setting for the arrival of “Bloodworm.”

The second of two tracks repurposed from the demo — the other was “Backdoor” — the penultimate track is likewise bluesier at its outset and sub-four-minutes in its runtime, but the last of those minutes shifts into a heavier thrust that’s like a mini-rampage. Not lacking atmosphere, “Bloodworm” has bombast worthy of the re-recording, and lets the softer beginning of “Formless” and the start of Thorpe‘s vocals become a dynamic contrast. It is no small thing for a band to give away the crescendo of their debut album, and even at 5:52, “Formless” isn’t as long as it would be on any number of other records, but a rumble of bass at about 4:37 signals the start of the build and the guitar sweeps forward to preface the surge at 4:55, screamed repetitions of the title mounting in intensity as they push higher for the second of two sets of four, capping with residual feedback and crunch-noise before ending cold.

Going back around to the start, the roll of “Holy Goat” feels all the more immediate and the swing seems to carry an extra touch of Sabbath, so fair enough. Mammuthus know the styles they’re playing toward, and the genre elements they’re picking from in a given track, whether it’s a lurching groove or sludgy shove or chugga-chugga-chugga, and that awareness serves them well throughout while not holding them back in terms of craft. With the impression of “Backdoor” and “Bloodworm” as the oldest inclusions, one might anticipate Mammathus to continue to grow more mammoth (mammuth?) in sound as demonstrated though “King of the Dead,” “Monolith” or “Formless,” but in under half an hour they find room to celebrate a variety of heavy forms, and that’s an accomplishment in itself, and the expanse they lay out across that minimal LP runtime isn’t to be understated either. Whatever direction they take from here, the thing to hope for is growth, and they give every indication of that being underway, so right on.

We’ve got a ways to go until July, but you can get a sample of Imperator with “Bloodworm” as first single premiering below, followed by more from the PR wire.

Please enjoy:

The roar of MAMMUTHUS is a doom/stoner rock bred proposal embracing the inspirations of bands such as Black Sabbath, Sasquatch, Beastwars, and Kyuss but a confrontational involvement of sound stamping its own commanding individuality. The Wellington band’s 2020 released debut EP stamped down that distinction, its quartet of tracks a sinewy introduction which soon proved a praise luring incitement. It was a rippling of creative muscle which has grown into a pharaonic snowball of craft and imagination; evolution and intent uniting within the unforgiving yet alluring seductive beast that is ‘Imperator’.

Overall an eclectic body of enterprise and invention, ‘Imperator’ finds MAMMUTHUS breaching a whole new realm in their and heavy rock’s tempestuous plateaus. From the incisive and invasive swings of Jay Rodeo’s beats, the prowling growling bestiality of Matt Bradford’s bass to the distorted yet melodically searing weaving of Josh Micallef’s guitar, it all rapaciously courted by the latter’s inner and vocal snarling, the album is a hulking shadow of sound and intimidation upon the senses but, as proven by the likes of tracks such as ‘Formless’ featuring EJ from End Boss, equally a source of keen surprise and untethered imagination.

Set to be released on July 7th, “Imperator” was recorded and mixed by James Goldsmith and mastered by Will Borza, and also features the Mark Mundell of Planet of the Dead as guest vocalist in “King Of The Dead”.

Tracklisting:
1. Holy Goat
2. Long Drive
3. Backdoor
4. King of the Dead (feat. Mark Mundell)
5. Monolith
6. Bloodworm
7. Formless (feat. EJ Thorpe)

Mammuthus are:
Josh Micallef – guitar/vocals
Matt Bradford – bass
Jay Rodeo – drums

Mammuthus on Facebook

Mammuthus on Instagram

Mammuthus on Bandcamp