Posted in Whathaveyou on September 16th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
So the deal is this. The Mon, which is the experimental/arthouse solo-project of Ufomammut bassist/vocalist Urlo, is set to release two albums. The first, Songs of Abandon, is out Nov. 7 and there’s a video up from it now at the bottom of this post. You’ll find it mellow, psychedelic and melancholic in a resigned kind of way. That’s on purpose. The second, Songs of Embrace, will be out in Spring 2026 and promises a somewhat brighter point of view. The two together form a (Voltron! no it’s not Voltron) duology titled ‘Embrace the Abandon,’ seemingly intended to showcase both perspectives through Urlo‘s layered solocraft.
That’s an easy sign-me-up as the video for “Your Eyes” finds Urlo taking a walk in an alternate dimension, subdued acid folk resulting in a sprawl of atmosphere in which the ebow-ish sounds and acoustic strum reside. At three and a half minutes, it’s over before you know it, but the sense of exploration remains resonant from The Mon, and I wouldn’t expect things to be so light/dark binary between the records in terms of the actual listening. If you’ve, say, been alive for five minutes or so, you know these things are rarely so cut and dry.
Info and vibe came courtesy of the PR wire:
THE MON: Ufomammut Solo Project To Release Songs Of Abandon – The First Of A Two-Album Series, Embrace The Abandon – November 7th On Supernatural Cat Records; “Your Eyes” Video And Preorders Posted
Embrace The Abandon is the new project by THE MON, the solo vision of Urlo, vocalist/bassist of the long-running Italian heavy-psychedelic trio Ufomammut, as well as the co-founder of the internationally renowned poster art collective Malleus Rock Art Lab and of the independent label Supernatural Cat.
Where Ufomammut projects massive, otherworldly soundscapes, THE MON offers a more vulnerable and introspective experience. The music moves through shadowy electronic landscapes, ambient textures, and hypnotic dark folk, always guided by an emotional core that searches for meaning, balance, and transformation.
The name THE MON evokes several layers of meaning: a contraction of “demon,” “monk,” and the Japanese word 門 (mon, meaning “gate”), a symbolic passage toward altered states of consciousness and inner truth. This duality of light and dark, sacred and profane, runs through the entire project.
THE MON’s Embrace The Abandon is structured in two complementary chapters – Songs Of Abandon and Songs Of Embrace – the project depicting a journey of duality: loss and surrender on one side, acceptance and rebirth on the other.
The first chapter of this journey, Songs Of Abandon is perhaps the most intimate and vulnerable work Urlo has ever created. Born in a moment of solitude and personal darkness, the album originated from a radical exercise: writing one song a day, for nine consecutive days, using only acoustic guitar and voice. Later, these sketches were shaped into fully realized tracks, with lyrics and subtle layers of sound – not to overwhelm, but to underline the fragile, raw atmosphere that pervades them. The result is a stripped-down, emotionally charged collection that embodies an inner search: the power of music as a tool to face abandonment, to dig into oneself, and ultimately to glimpse the possibility of an embrace.
Songs Of Abandon was written, performed, produced, recorded, mixed, and mastered by Urlo at The Howl, Italy, between 2023 and 2025, and as with all Supernatural Cat releases, completed with artwork by the Malleus Rock Art Collective.
The first preview of this project arrives through a video for “Your Eyes.” Urlo states with its unveiling, “‘Your Eyes’ closes Songs Of Abandon and was among the very first pieces I wrote for the project. It was 2021 and I set myself the task of writing one song a day for nine days, armed only with my acoustic guitar. Those sketches became the nine acoustic tracks that form Songs Of Abandon. Shaping them into their final form was far from easy. When the mix was finally complete, ‘Your Eyes’ revealed itself as the perfect ending, the closing of a circle. It marked a time when abandonment became a confrontation with myself, a way to re-embrace those eyes through my own gaze. From that darkness, the second part of the album would eventually rise.”
With Embrace The Abandon, THE MON reaffirms itself as one of the most personal and uncompromising projects. It is a body of work that fuses vulnerability and strength, speaking directly to the listener with sincerity, leading them through shadow towards light. An intimate yet powerful sound experience, intertwining the minimalism of acoustic folk with the dark, visionary tension that has always defined Urlo’s artistic path.
The second chapter, Songs Of Embrace, is an instrumental counterpart – darker, ambient, and ritualistic – and it will be unveiled in the Spring of 2026.
Songs Of Abandon will be released digitally, on CD, and on vinyl – with both a standard LP pressing and a limited pressing of 100 copies – on November 7th. Those who preorder the limited edition of Songs Of Abandon will have early access to an advance preorder of Songs Of Embrace as well. Find preorders at the Supernatural Cat webshop HERE:https://www.supernaturalcat.com/home/?s=the+mon&post_type=product
1. Smiling Dog 2. Two Stones 3. The Hidden Ghost 4. Hourglass 5. The Moon & The Devil 6. Mayhem 7. Little Bird 8. The Fluorescent Sand 9. Beautiful Star 10. Your Eyes
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 29th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
The Mon‘s Demon Box book is also a short-story collection, so I guess take ‘art book’ in the headline with that in mind. Leave it to the cats from Ufomammut/Malleus/Supernatural Cat — all the same people — to defy easy categorization. I’m a little surprised they didn’t come up with a separate name for their publishing company, but they’ve done art books for Ufommamut before and such. In any case, both seem like cool projects — you’re not going to go wrong staring for hours at Malleus art or seeing Urlo go multimedia with art, text and aural tie-ins. This is also the 20th anniversary of Supernatural Cat — and I think the 25th of Ufomammut — so yes, it’s pretty special that they continue to explore uncharted ground.
Kind of a niche thing, which feels odd to say about reading, but chalk it up to the context. If you’ve dug into these guys’ world before, you might have an advantage going in, but if you wanted to immerse, this seems like an opportunity to catch while you can, limited pressings being what they are and all that.
Info came down the PR wire:
Supernatural Cat, The Label Operated By Ufomammut And Malleus Rock Art Lab Members, Becomes A Publishing House; Urlo’s Demon Box Book + Exclusive Track Now Available
Italy-based Supernatural Cat Records, the label operated by members of Ufomammut, Malleus Rock Art Collective, and more, has expanded its artistic vision once again, now also operating as a small independent publishing house.
Over the years, the label has complemented its musical and visual journey with various publications connected to the Malleus collective, from the success of The Hammer Of God (over 1000 copies sold, celebrating the first ten years of Malleus) to exhibition catalogues, and The Art Of Ufomammut, a volume dedicated to the band’s graphic universe from its beginnings up to the album 8. Now, Malleus has decided to give continuity to this path by launching a more structured and independent editorial project in the world of publishing.
The first releases in this new phase include:
Magick – A collection focused on Malleus’ most esoteric and symbolic artwork.
Demon Box – A series of short stories written by Urlo (one of the three Malleus members and co-founder of Ufomammut with Poia), exploring a dark and visionary narrative world.
Demon Box is a 96-page book featuring 10 short stories, presented in both Italian and English, each one accompanied by a unique black and white illustration. The book comes in a 17 × 24 cm clothbound hardcover edition, with sewn binding and 150g paper. It is a limited edition of 100 hand-numbered copies, featuring a numbered screenprint on the inner back cover.
Included inside is a download code for “Demon Box,” an exclusive track by Urlo’s solo project, The Mon. The book is now available on supernaturalcat.com also as a bundle edition, which includes a special Demon Box t-shirt created for the release.
The goal is to create a small editorial universe, aligned with the unique and alternative vision they’ve long been exploring through images and music.
The Malleus collective states, “This is a very special and personal release, dark, visionary, and fully aligned with the aesthetic world we’ve been crafting through our music and visuals. Thanks to the continued support of our followers. We hope this new adventure will lead to more one-of-a-kind and unconventional publications. The journey continues.”
Watch a brief teaser for the new works HERE and place orders for the new books, merch, and more at the Supernatural Cat website/shop HERE: https://www.supernaturalcat.com/home/store/
Supernatural Cat was born at the end of the year 2005 by an idea of Malleus Rock Art Lab, one of the most original modern European music poster art collectives. Two of its three founding members are also part of the long-running psychedelic sludge metal trio Ufomammut and more. Over the past two decades, Supernatural Cat has released a wide array of albums from acts like Skyjoggers, Morkobot, OvO, Zolle, Incoming Cerebral Overdrive, Gotho, The Mon, and of course, Ufomammut. With Malleus handling the artwork for these records, most of the pressings include limited hand-screened versions, printed on high quality paper and materials, with the utmost care put into the presentation and sound. The collective has also partnered with other labels for some of their releases including Neurosis’ Neurot Recordings.
Earlier this year, the label launched a new US-based webshop through A Thousand Arms, which allows customers from North America and beyond to explore their vast catalog of incredible releases without paying inflated import shipping prices from Europe, joining indie labels such as Pelagic, Crazysane, Dunk!, Golden Antenna, Exile On Mainstream, and more.
The second-most dense object in the universe only to black holes, neutron stars are estimated to rotate over 700 times per second, driven by the incredible force of their own gravity. There are a couple reasons why this factoid comes to mind listening to “Huevos Rancheros/Rapid Round” leading off Skyjoggers‘ sixth-but-a-bunch-were-jam-releases album and first for Supernatural Cat (Ufomammut‘s label), 12021: Post-Electric Apocalypse, from the entrenched groove of the Tampere, Finland, trio’s boogie, to the fuzzed blowout that surrounds, the way they take Earthless-style instrumental ‘go’ and the spin of Alexi Belle‘s echoing solo.
Following up their 2024 split with Sula Bassana (review here), the Tampere-based Belle, bassist/vocalist Juan Rico (also synth) and drummer/vocalist Gabo Sabor offer four cuts across 36 minutes of earthly spacetime, with the opener as the longest of the bunch (immediate points) running an early gamut as if to tell the listener to buckle up for what’s coming, though by the time Skyjoggers get down to the last push in “Huevos Rancheros/Rapid Round,” with fervent energy and a solo that has a bit of Slayer‘s noisy impulse, they’ve showcased enough dynamic to cover an entire full-length.
Now, this might be called fortunate, since at 13:50, “Huevos Rancheros/Rapid Round” takes up such a significant portion of the record’s runtime, but it’s intended to be a major part of the thing and it is. In complement, the closing “Tessæil” stands at 12:19 and rushes through its post-punk intro to a driving, gloriously fuzzy riff, a crash-laden blowout in the spirit of neo-space metal, and a turn to progressive swing — in like the first minute. And yes, it continues to go from there, trading parts back and forth while not so much in a rush as working in its own definition of time and how the song unfolds.
The guitar and keys take some of the place of vocals, say, in the song’s midsection, with a kind of ringing-out, but the build is directed into a fuller wash that’s transcendent in the spirit of Skyjoggers‘ proggy countrymen in Polymoon, and the residual noise and feedback that end it on a long fade seem to emphasize the grand cosmic blink that has just taken place. In their moments of righteous abrasion, Skyjoggers are blinding and throwing elbows — see “Tessæil” from about six to seven minutes in, or “Huevos Rancheros/Rapid Round” throwing down the space-boogie gauntlet with its solo and echoing vocals around 11:30 — but as captured at Soundwell Studios by Janne Hakanen (Johannes Latva did additional recording, Niko Lehdontie mixed, Hanaken mastered), the sound is rich enough the underlying plan and structures at work are less the focus than the masterblaster fuzz and pickup shoving groove.
As though to emphasize the point, 12021: Post-Electric Apocalypseseparates “Huevos Rancheros/Rapid Round” and “Tessæil” with two shorter pieces, “Newtonin Kanuuna” (3:58) and “Døpehølm” (6:26). The former ends side A of the vinyl and the latter starts side B; they are sandwiched between the two extended tracks. And as much as the album greets the listener with to-neck immersion on the quick in its opener, “Newtonin Kanuuna” condenses its rhythmic charge to follow the pattern of surfy-twists set by the guitar, an effects-laced solo either of guitar or synth blinding in how it cuts through the surroundings.
‘Kanuuna’ is ‘cannon’ in Finnish (also ‘hangover’ in slang, apparently), and the bass distortion around the two-minute mark might just be where that explosive aspect manifests, though I’m not going to take away from the nodder bridge that takes hold after en route back to the jabs of the verse before they’re done, a shorter encapsulation of their modus, inherently more structured-feeling than the longer songs, but a reminder not to hold doing more than one thing against the band and that the album is better for it heading into the side flip and the even-bassier roll of “Døpehølm,” where they seem to find the meeting point between space and stoner idolatry, lumbering through the six and a half minutes with distant-cast vocals and a heaping dose of noise besides.
There’s some flash in the guitar late in “Døpehølm” of more extreme progressive metal, and that might be telling of what Skyjoggers have in mind going forward, or frankly it might not, I have no idea. But it doesn’t feel in listening through 12021: Post-Electric Apocalypse that there’s a lot that would be ‘out of bounds’ for the band in terms of songwriting. True, the songs reside well within a heavy psychedelic framework, but the angle of approach they’ve taken is their own, and the brashness that comes through the production further defines the character of the record, whether a given song has vocals or not.
As noted earlier, immersion is a lot of the goal here, but Skyjoggers‘ songs aren’t just looking to be the backdrop while you go about your day, or to lull you out of consciousness with repetition. There’s movement in 12021: Post-Electric Apocalypse whether it’s the build-up near the midpoint in “Tessæil” or the scuffed-up shuffle in “Newtonin Kanuuna,” and that’s best served by an active listening process, repeat visits, and so on. Whether a given listener has that energy to give will be up to how desperately they’re looking to be thrust into exospheric space, but the band are ready to go when you are.
Skyjoggers are no strangers to creating narratives and settings in time and space around their work, and the title 12021: Post-Electric Apocalypse would seem to follow suit in evoking a sense of story. Is that a year? A person’s designation in some dystopian ID system? What does ‘post-electric’ mean in this context? Are humans without power, some solar flare or EMP horror scenario? The songs don’t really answer these questions or seem to try/want to, but in the atmosphere and consuming throbs meted out, the trio meet the apocalypse head-on with expanse and maybe a bit of escapism through the songs themselves. If you’ve got plot-thread questions, fine, but don’t get so wrapped up in it that “Huevos Rancheros/Rapid Round” passes by on its way to the Kuiper Belt to look for planet nine. There’s more here than terrestrial paper could hope to convey.
Posted in Whathaveyou on March 25th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Ahead of launching the Spring tour that will see them make stops at Sonic Whip in the Netherlands, Desertfest Berlin and Esbjerg Fuzztival in Denmark, among others, Finnish heavy psych instrumentalists Skyjoggers have announced the May 2 release of their new album, 12021: Post-Electric Apocalypse. In case the three-piece’s weirdo-psych cred was still in doubt after their live-recorded 2024 split LP with Sula Bassana (review here), the fact that the upcoming long-player is being issued through Supernatural Cat — aka Ufomammut‘s label — should quell concerns. If not, the first single “Tessæil” is streaming now with 12 minutes of immersive persuasion.
In addition to the dates listed below, Skyjoggers have been confirmed for the legendary Stoned From the Underground in Germany as well as Down the Hill in Belgium, so expect further news to come as we head toward and past the album release through the remainder of the year. The PR wire has plenty of info to hold us — you and me, who are looking forward to the album — over until next time.
And here it is:
SKYJOGGERS: Finnish Space/Psych-Rock Trio To Release 12021: Post-Electric Apocalypse LP On Supernatural Cat May 2nd; “Tessæil” Video/Single, Preorders, And Tour Dates Posted
Tampere, Finland-based innovative space/psych rock trio SKYJOGGERS present their sixth LP, 12021: Post-Electric Apocalypse, confirming the album for release May 2nd on Supernatural Cat, the label formed by the Malleus Rock Art Collective and members of Ufomammut.
Fusing the exhilarating elements of space rock and psychedelic soundscapes, SKYJOGGERS’ music captures the essence of cosmic exploration, characterized by hypnotic riffs and an experimental approach that pushes boundaries. With a focus on dynamic performances and rich instrumental textures, the band invites listeners on a journey through uncharted musical territories.
On SKYJOGGERS’ 12021: Post-Electric Apocalypse, the band focuses on themes such as death, loss, and despair. The writing of the album took place during the pandemic, forest fires in the Amazon, and wars around the planet; The band took inspiration from such themes trying to channel the hard topics into something beautiful shining a ray of hope and light into the world through music. The album showcases the heaviest side of SKYJOGGERS heard to this day, bringing elements of black and doom metal into the band’s unique mix of modern space rock.
12021: Post-Electric Apocalypse was recorded at Soundwell Studios, Espoo by Janne Hakanen who also took over mastering duties, with additional recordings by Johannes Latva in Soossila, Tampere, and was mixed by Niko Lehdontie. Malleus Rock Art Collective handled the artwork and design.
“We first met Ufomammut in Warsaw a few years ago while on our first European tour. We bonded over our shared love of music, art and screen printing,” the band reveals. “It was quite a surprise when they asked us if we’d be interested in releasing our next album through Supernatural Cat; we said yes right away!”
Urlo of Ufomammut, Supernatural Cat, and Malleus writes, “Sometimes we are really impressed by a band when Poia and I are on tour with Ufomammut. SKYJOGGERS were a bolt from the blue, watching them play really amazed us. And we are so happy that their amazing new album is coming out on Supernatural Cat!”
The album’s lead single, “Tessæil,” is a nearly thirteen-minute-long epic ride. “Polyrhythms, screeching guitars, and wailing sirens block out the sun and bring about an auditive nuclear Winter,” the band writes. “This massive track ends 12021: Post-Electric Apocalypse like a weapon of mass destruction; leaving nothing in its wake.”
In support of 12021: Post-Electric Apocalypse, SKYJOGGERS will embark on an extensive album release tour to kick off in early May, including appearances at Desertfest Berlin and Esbjerg Fuzztival. Find all tour dates listed below and expect additional shows to be announced.
SKYJOGGERS Tour Dates: 5/03/2025 TPO – Bologna, IT 5/07/2025 Koncerty Na Garazach – Bratislava, SK 5/08/2025 Café Wolf – Graz, AT 5/11/2025 Dürer Kert – Budapest, HU 5/12/2025 Arena – Wien, AT 5/13/2025 Mocvara – Zagreb, HR 5/14/2025 Feierwerk – München, DE 5/16/2025 Poortgebouw – Rotterdam, NL 5/17/2025 Sonic Whip – Nijmegen, NL 5/18/2025 Backyard Club – Recklinghausen, DE 5/20/2025 C.Keller – Weimar, DE 5/21/2025 Dreikönigskeller – Frankfurt, DE 5/24/2025 Desertfest Berlin – Berlin, DE 5/25/2025 Klub Mechanik – Warsaw, PL 5/27/2025 Klub Szalonych – Wroclaw, PL 5/28/2025 KuBa – Jena, DE 5/29/2025 Neue Welt – Ingolstadt, DE 5/30/2025 Kulturwerkstatt Karnak – Kassel, DE 5/31/2025 Stellwerk – Hamburg, DE 6/06/2025 Råhuset – Copenhagen, DK 6/07/2025 Esbjerg Fuzztival – Esbjerg, DK
SKYJOGGERS: Alexi Belle – guitars, effects Juan Rico – bass, synth, vocals Gabo Sabor – drums, vocals
Good morning and heavy riffs. Today is day 7 of the Quarterly Review. It’s already been a lot, but there are still 30 more releases to cover over the next three days, so I assure you at some point I’ll have that nervous breakdown that’s been ticking away in the back of my brain. A blast as always, which I mean both sincerely and sarcastically, somehow.
But when we’re done, 100 releases will have been covered, and I get a medal sent to me whenever that happens from the UN’s Stoner Rock Commission on Such Things, so I’ll look forward to that. In the meantime, we’re off.
Quarterly Review #61-70:
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Ufomammut, Hidden
Italian cosmic doomers Ufomammut celebrate their 25th anniversary in 2024, and as they always have, they do so by looking and moving forward. Hidden is the 10th LP in their catalog, the second to feature drummer Levre — who made his debut on 2022’s Fenice (review here) alongside bassist/vocalist Urlo and guitarist Poia (both also keyboards) — and it was preceded by last year’s Crookhead EP (review here), the 10-minute title-track of which is repurposed as the opener here. A singular, signature blend of heft and synth-based atmospherics, Ufomammut roll fluidly through the six-tracker check-in, and follow on from Fenice in sounding refreshed while digging into their core stylistic purposes. “Spidher” brings extra tonal crush around its open verse, and “Mausoleum” has plenty of that as well but is less condensed and hypnotic in its atmospheric midsection, Ufomammut paying attention to details while basking in an overarching largesse. The penultimate “Leeched” was the lead single for good reason, and the four-minute “Soulost” closes with a particularly psychedelic exploration of texture and drone with the drums keeping it moving. 25 years later and there’s still new things to discover. I hear the universe is like that.
Considering some of the places Dana Schechter has taken Insect Ark over the project’s to-date duration, most of Raw Blood Singing might at times feel daringly straightforward, but that’s hardly a detriment to the material itself. Songs like “The Hands” bring together rhythmic tension and melodic breadth, as soundscapes of drone, low end chug and the drumming of Tim Wyskida (also Khanate, Blind Idiot God) cast a morose, encompassing atmospheric vision. And rest assured, while “The Frozen Lake” lumbers through its seven minutes of depressive post-sludge — shades of The Book of Knots at their heaviest, but still darker — and “Psychological Jackal” grows likewise harsher and horrific, the experimentalist urge continues to resonate; the difference is it’s being set to serve the purposes of the songs themselves in “Youth Body Swayed” or “Cleaven Hearted,” which slogs like death-doom with a strum cutting through to replace vocals, whereas the outro “Ascension” highlights the noise on its own. It is a bleak, consuming course presented over Raw Blood Singing‘s 45 minutes, but there’s solace in the catharsis as well.
Laced through with harmonica and organic vibes, Netherlands-based five-piece Heath make their full-length debut with the four extended tracks of Isaak’s Marble, reveling in duly expansive jams keyed for vibrancy and a live sound. They are somewhat the band-between as regards microgenres, with a style that can be traced on the opening title-cut to heavy ’70s funk-boogie-via-prog-rock, and the harmonica plays a role there before spacing out with echo over top of the psychedelia beginning of “Wondrous Wetlands.” The wetlands in question, incidentally, might just be the guitar tone, but that haze clears a bit as the band saunters into a light shuffle jam before the harder-hitting build into a crescendo that sounds unhinged but is in fact quite under control as it turns back to a softshoe-ready groove with organ, keys, harmonica, guitar all twisting around with the bass and drums. Sitar and vocal harmonies give the shorter-at-six-minutes “Strawberry Girl” a ’60s psych-pop sunshine, but the undercurrent is consistent with the two songs before as Heath highlight the shroomier side of their pastoralism, ahead of side B capper “Valley of the Sun” transitioning out of that momentary soundscape with clear-eyed guitar and flute leading to an angular progression grounded by snare and a guitar solo after the verse that leads the shift into the final build. They’re not done, of course, as they bring it all to a rousing end and some leftover noise; subdued in the actual-departing, but still resonant in momentum and potential. These guys might just be onto something.
The Cosmic Dead, releasing through Heavy Psych Sounds, count Infinite Peaks as their ninth LP since 2011. I’ll take them at their word since between live offerings, splits, collections and whatnot, it’s hard sometimes to know what’s an album. Similarly, when immersed in the 23-minute cosmic sprawl of “Navigator #9,” it can become difficult to understand where you stop and the universe around you begins. Rising quickly to a steady, organ-inclusive roll, the Glaswegian instrumental psilocybinists conjure depth like few of their jam-prone ilk and remain entrancing as “Navigator #9” shifts into its more languid, less-consuming middle movement ahead of the resurgent finish. Over on side B, “Space Mountain” (20:02) is a bit more drastic in the ends it swaps between — a little noisier and faster up front, followed by a zazzy-jazzy push with fiddle and effects giving over to start-stop bass and due urgency in the drums complemented by fuzz like they just got in a room and this happened before the skronky apex and unearthly comedown resolve in a final stretch of drone. Ninth record or 15th, whatever. Their mastery of interstellar heavy exploration is palpable regardless of time, place or circumstance. Infinite Peaks glimpses at that dimensional makeup.
Perhaps telegraphing some of their second long-player’s darker intentions in the cover art and the title Nyctophilia — a condition whereby you’re happier and more comfortable in darkness — if not the choice of Max Norman (Ozzy Osbourne, Death Angel, etc.) to produce, San Francisco’s The Watchers are nonetheless a heavy rock and roll band. What’s shifted in relation to their 2018 debut, Black Abyss (review here), is the angle of approach they take in getting there. What hasn’t changed is the strength of songwriting at their foundation or the hitting-all-their-marks professionalism of their execution, whether it’s Tim Narducci bringing a classic reach to the vocals of “Garden Tomb” or the precise muting in his and Jeremy Von Epp‘s guitars and Chris Lombardo‘s bass on “Haunt You When I’m Dead” and Nick Benigno‘s declarative kickdrum stomping through the shred of “They Have No God.” The material lands harder without giving up its capital-‘h’ Heavy, which is an accomplishment in itself, but The Watchers set a high standard last time out and Nyctophilia lives up to that while pursuing its own semi-divergent ends.
Leipzig’s Juke Cove follow a progressive course across eight songs and 44 minutes of Tempest, between nodding riffs of marked density and varying degrees of immediacy, whether it’s the might-just-turn-around-on-you “Hypnosis” early on or the shove with which the duly brief penultimate piece “Burst” takes off after the weighted crash of and ending stoner-rock janga-janga riff of “Glow” and precedes the also-massive “Xanadu” in the closing position, capping with a fuzzy solo because why not. From opener “The Path” into the bombast of “Hypnosis” and the look-what-we-can-make-riffs-do “Wait,” the three-piece of guitarist/vocalist Mateusz Pietrzela, bassist/vocalist Dima Ogorodnov and drummer Maxim Balobin mine aural individualism from familiar-enough genre elements, shaping material of character that benefits from the scope wrought in tone and production. Much to its credit, Tempest feels unforced in speaking to various sides of its persona, and no matter where a given song might go — the watery finish of “Wait” or the space-blues drift that emerges out of psych-leaning noise rock on “Confined,” for example — Juke Cove steer with care and heart alike and are all the more able to bring their audience with them as a result. Very cool, and no, I’m not calling them pricks when I say that.
A little more than a year out from their impressive self-titled debut LP (review here), Philly three-piece Laurel Canyon — guitarist/bassist/vocalist Nicholas Gillespie, guitarist/vocalist Serg Cereja, drummer Dylan DePice — offer the East Side three-songer to follow-up on the weighted proto-grunge vibes therein. “East Side” itself, at two and a half minutes, is a little more punk in that as it aligns for a forward push in the chorus between its swaggering verses, while “Garden of Eden” is more directly Nirvana-schooled in making its well-crafted melody sound like something that just tumbled out of somebody’s mouth, pure happenstance, and “Untitled” gets more aggressive in its second half, topping a momentary slowdown/nod with shouts before they let it fall apart at the end. This procession takes place in under 10 minutes and by the time you feel like you’ve got a handle on it, they’re done, which is probably how it should be. East Side isn’t Laurel Canyon‘s first short release, and they’re clearly comfortable in the format, bolstering the in-your-face-itude of their style with a get-in-and-get-out ethic correspondingly righteous in its rawness.
If you hadn’t yet come around to thinking of Poland among Europe’s prime underground hotspots, Tet offer their four-song/45-minute self-titled debut for your (re-)consideration. With its lyrics and titles in Polish, Tet draws on the modern heavy prog influence of Elder in some of the 12-minute opener/longest track (immediate points), “Srebro i antracyt,” but neither that nor “Dom w cieniu gruszy,” which follows, stays entirely in one place for the duration, and the lush melody that coincides with the unfolding of “Wiosna” is Tet‘s own in more than just language; that is to say, there’s more to distinguish them from their influences than the syllabic. Each inclusion adds complexity to the story their songs are telling, and as closer “Włóczykije” gradually moves from its dronescape by bringing in the drums unveiling the instrumentalist build already underway, Tet carve a niche for themselves in one of the continent’s most crowded scenes. I wonder if they’ve opened for Weedpecker. They could. Or Belzebong, for that matter. Either way, it will be worth looking out for how they expand on these ideas next time around.
Aidan Baker, Everything is Like Always Until it is Not
Aidan Baker, also of Nadja, aligns the eight pieces of what I think is still his newest outing — oh wait, nope; this came out in Feb. and in March he had an hour-long drone two-songer out; go figure/glad I checked — to represent the truism of the title Everything is Like Always Until it is Not, and arranges the tracks so that the earlier post-shoegaze in “Everything” or “Like” can be a preface for the more directly drone-based “It” “Is” later on. And yes, there are two songs called “Is.” Does it matter? Definitely not while Baker‘s evocations are actually being heard. Free-jazz drums — not generally known for a grounding effect — do some work in terms of giving all the float that surrounds them a terrestrial aspect, but if you know Baker‘s work either through his solo stuff, Nadja or sundry other collaborations, I probably don’t need to tell you that the 47 minutes of Everything is Like Always Until it is Not fall into the “not like always” category as a defining feature, whether it’s “Until” manifesting tonal heft in waves of static cut through by tom-to-snare-to-cymbal splashes or “Not” seeming unwilling to give itself over to its own flow. I imagine a certain restlessness is how Aidan Baker‘s music happens in the first place. You get smaller encapsulations of that here, if not more traditional accessibility.
Based in the arguable capitol of the Doom Capitol region — Frederick, Maryland — the three-piece Trap Ratt arrive in superbly raw style with the four-song/33-minute Tribus Rattus Mortuus, the last of which, aptly-titled “IV,” features Tim Otis (High Noon Kahuna, Admiral Browning, etc.), who also mixed and mastered, guesting on noise while Charlie Chaplin’s soliloquy from 1940’s The Dictator takes the place of the tortured barebones shouts that accompany the plod of 13-minute opener/longest track (immediate points) “The Sacred Skunk,” seemingly whenever they feel like it. That includes the chugging part before the feedback gets caustic near the song’s end, by the way. “Thieving From the Grieving” — which may or may not have been made up on the spot — repurposes Stooges-style riffing as the foundation for its own decay into noise, and if from anything I’ve said so far about the album you might expect “Take the Gun” to not be accordingly harsh, Trap Ratt have a word and eight minutes of disaffected exploration they’d like to share with you. It’s not every record you could say benefits aesthetically from being recorded live in the band’s rehearsal space, but yes, Tribus Rattus Mortuus most definitely does.
Posted in Whathaveyou on March 18th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Italian cosmic doom progenitors Ufomammut have always believed presentation matters and they’ve got the closely-associated Malleus visual arts studio to prove it, but I can’t remember them ever quite going so deep into that notion as to manifest an album’s concept in the actual piece of plastic to which it’s pressed. Yeah, they’ve done special editions and on-theme colors, but Hidden takes that another step as you can read in the just-got-here PR wire info below. See also the sense of crushing weight and consuming atmosphere that’s defined most of their output over the course of the last two-and-a-half-plus decades. That seems to be well intact too, as demonstrated in their new animated video for “Leeched,” the first single from what will be their 10th full-length, out May 17 through Neurot Recordings and their own Supernatural Cat imprint.
Newfomammut is always good news as far as I’m concerned. Last Fall, they offered a sneak peak at Hidden‘s direction in the Crookhead EP (review here), the title-track from which features as the new record’s opener. “Leeched” finds the three-piece digging into the heart of their approach with clarity and efficiency across its five minutes, but if the other nine Ufomammut albums — the last of which was Fenice (review here), released just in 2022 — have taught us anything, it’s that you never know all the places the band will explore until you’re actually in the whole record itself. Even then sometimes you might lose track of where you’re at. Don’t worry, that’s part of the thing too.
Something to look forward to:
UFOMAMMUT: Italian Psychedelic Doom Trio To Release Tenth Album, Hidden, On Neurot Recordings/Supernatural Cat Records On May 17th; Animated Video For “Leeched” + Album Details And Preorders Posted
Italian psychedelic doom metal trio UFOMAMMUT celebrates their 25th Anniversary in 2024 including the release of their massive tenth studio full-length, Hidden. Today, the band confirms the album for May release on Neurot Recordings/Supernatural Cat Records, unveiling the cover art, track listing, preorders, and an animated video for the song “Leeched.”
Rising from the ashes of their prior band Judy Corda, UFOMAMMUT formed in the late 1990s by Poia (guitars, effects) and Urlo (bass, vocals, effects, synths), together with Vita (drums). With Levre taking over on drums in 2021, the band has undergone a rebirth, culminating in the release of the 2022-released Fenice LP, and on Halloween 2023, the Crookhead EP.
Over the course of two-and-a-half decades, UFOMAMMUT has developed a unique sound that combines heavy, dynamic riff worship with a deep understanding of psychedelic tradition in music, which has resulted in a cosmic, futuristic, and technicolor sound that fully immerses listeners. They’ve produced a wide spectrum of albums, EPs, live albums, a box set, compilation tracks, and covers – including a track on the Superunknown Redux Soundgarden tribute album.
Now, in 2024, as they celebrate their quarter-century milestone, UFOMAMMUT is set to release their tenth LP, Hidden. This album marks a shift in the band’s musical composition, aiming for a more intense and heavy sound, as they have displayed over the prior two releases. The title, Hidden, reflects the concept of the presence of everything in our existence and the ability to bring to light what lies within us. With Hidden, the band delves into a sonic journey that traverses vast expanses of space and time. From the crushing heaviness to the hauntingly melodies, from the textured compositions to the otherworldly atmospheres, Hidden testifies to the never-ending evolution of UFOMAMMUT and their mastery of creating immersive sonic experiences: a fitting celebration of their 25 years of sonic exploration and experimentation.
Like any good psychedelic trip, the music of UFOMAMMUT has always been inextricably intertwined with visual art. Poia describes longer compositions, “like a painting,” as if to reinforce the relevance and importance of visual art in their music. And as always, the artwork, videos, and all visuals/graphics for Hidden were created by Malleus Rock Art Lab, the rock/music graphic design collective of which Poia and Urlo are part of with Lu.
Hidden was recorded at Flat Scenario Studio in Piemonte, Italy, with Lorenzo Stecconi handling the mixing and mastering, and Luca Grossi overseeing vocal tracking.
With the lead single, Poia writes, “‘Leeched,’ the first song from the new full-length album Hidden, perfectly represents the new direction of UFOMAMMUT, which began with the album Fenice and continued with the EP Crookhead and reiterates once again that there are no failures or hesitations in our sonic research.
The fusion between heaviness and psychedelia, an obsession of the band since the beginning, takes on a new, changing form in ‘Leeched.’”
Hidden will be released on CD, LP, and digital on May 17th, in North America through Neurosis’ Neurot Recordings, the vinyl pressed on a Silver Nugget variant in a gatefold jacket. In Europe, the band’s Supernatural Cat Records will release it, a standard version on 180-gram Marbled Purple And Black variant, and a limited version of 500 copies on 180-gram Crystal Clear variant crafted by hand using photosensitive colors that are activated by sunlight, bringing the concept of the album to life, with multiple bundles and options.
UFOMAMMUT will be touring regularly in support of Hidden, with a long list of tour dates already announced across Europe and the UK through all of May and into June, with much more being plotted. See the current 25 Years Anniversary Tour listings at the band’s website HERE:https://www.ufomammut.com/site/
Italian cosmos compilers Ufomammut will celebrate Halloween 2023 with the release of Crookhead, a new three-song EP. Releasing through their own Supernatural Cat imprint and of course handling the artwork in-house through their (partial) visual arts alter ego Malleus as per standard operating procedure, the three-piece of guitarist/vocalist Poia, bassist/vocalist/synthesist Urlo (also The Mon) and still-recent-but-has-an-album-under-his-belt-now drummer Levre — all of whom make a great deal of noise — revel in raw spaces across the 17-minute outing, which serves triple duty as the follow-up to 2022’s Fenice (review here), a preface to their 10th album next year, and a solid merch-table feature for the Fall tour they’re about to start this weekend ahead of the EP’s actual release. No sweat to those in Maastricht and Munich, though. I’m sure they’ve got you covered as regards vinyl.
Also crush. Crookhead begins its offload with the title-track and works righteously longest to shortest through “Crookhead” (8:59), “Supernova” (5:12) and “Vibrhate” (3:35), and wholly justifies its release in about the first 15 seconds. “Crookhead” quickly establishes itself as a physical force of tonality. There’s historical context as regards the trajectory of their growth, but in order to make this sentence shorter than the actual EP, I’ll spare you some of it.
Suffice it to say that Ufomammut have never stopped seeking new dimensions within the void. Their heavycraft, which as the PR wire notes is nearly 25 years on from its initial manifestations, is singularly identifiable and constantly evolving within its sphere. When Poia and Urlo (both founding members) brought Levre on as drummer in 2021, coming back from a hiatus announced in Jan. 2020, the result on Fenice was reorientation of principles.
Crookhead shares with Fenice a play between the expansive and the claustrophobic. Ufomammut craft huge spaces and drop them on your bones with all due gravity, and Crookhead effectively and efficiently showcases the various sides of their methodology, from the title-cut’s ultra-low distortion rumbling at a mean clip into the sampled-speech-topped central riff.
They ride that current of aural concrete to a stop at 1:50 and kick back in with Levre setting the slow march on hi-hat, as the speech echoes, complemented by grunts or effects-twists, whatever it might be — since it’s technology I don’t understand I’ll just call it magic — and pummel themselves into a break after four minutes in with a pinging sound like the construction across the street from where I live when they pull out rebar (it’s not the same sound, I checked), and a creeping melody of mosquito-buzz synth to bolster the tension ahead of the smooth return to full volume. Onward they roll, to victory, death, or that spot on an accretion disk where you might get a bit of both at once as the light bends around you and you watch the universe’s entire future unfurl in whacked-out spacetime.
It’s a build, and they’re galloping by the finish, but because it’s Ufomammut, “Crookhead” is as much an expression of ambience as heft. With a memory-wipe 30 seconds of drone/synth noise, “Supernova” soon enough meets “Crookhead” on its own level of impossibly-dense noise riffing, but the turn toward atmospherics happens sooner, and is more patient, more willfully psychedelic.
Interesting to note that the vocals are spoken there too, but it’s a short stretch as Poia soon draws a solo over the soundscape, and a few more words lead into to a full-bore layered melodic verse before opening again to the speech and cycling through one more time. As will certainly happen, the vocals are in part consumed by the surrounding instruments, but that’s part of the immersion; the sense that all things are being consumed and so you are too. This is who they are.
They’re also the quiet psychedelics and the furious bludgeoning, and however fuck-yes-this-is-what-my-brain-needs the heaviest moments of Crookhead might be, dynamic is essential to the character of Ufomammut new or old. They have purposefully stripped down their style, but “Crookhead” and “Supernova” and “Vibrhate,” which also opens synthy and runs that thread alongside the relatively uptempo push of the guitar, bass and drums. For them, it’s a departure in structure and among the most straightforward, ‘traditional’-style metal songs they’ve ever done, but it’s neither out of place in style nor sound next to the other two, and the defined verses help ground the proceedings ahead of the last shove. In the spirit of the EP as a whole, I’ll call it ‘brutiful.’
And I’ll leave it there so you can actually hear the thing. You know the drill. Tour dates, preorder link and whatnot follow the EP premiere on the player below, courtesy of the aforementioned PR wire.
Please enjoy:
Ufomammut, Crookhead EP premiere
UFOMAMMUT presents a brand new EP, Crookhead, with three new songs that continue the expansion of the band’s sonic vision. The EP was recorded at Flat Scenario Studio in Italy by Lorenzo Stecconi in July 2022, and was mixed and mastered at Triple Sun by Stecconi. The artwork, as with all of the band’s releases, was designed and printed in Italy by Malleus Rock Art Lab, the graphic design collective of which Poia and Urlo are both founding members. The artwork, with its handprinted and numbered silkscreened cover, adds an artistic touch to the EP. Crookhead is a foretaste of the band’s impending tenth album, which will be released when the band celebrates their 25th anniversary in 2024.
The band reveals, “Crookhead is the Middle Earth, the gateway to something that lies within us and has yet to come, a bridge connecting our rebirth place called Fenice and the incoming journey. These three pieces perfectly represent how the new UFOMAMMUT form takes definitive shape and unfolds its fangs towards space, towards the unknown lands that await each of us. Crookhead is simply the final result of the urge to write new music, the natural introduction of our next record.”
UFOMAMMUT’s Crookhead EP will be released on Halloween, October 31st. The EP will released digitally and in a limited edition vinyl version of 500 copies: 200 on Marble Red Vinyl, 200 in Marble Gold Vinyl, and 100 in clear transparent vinyl which will be available only on the band’s fall tour. Preorders are now live at the Supernatural Cat shop HERE: https://www.supernaturalcat.com/home/?s=crookhead
UFOMAMMUT has booked a Fall tour across Europe in conjunction with the release of Crookhead, with dates running from October 29th through December 3rd. See the confirmed dates below and expect new tours to be announced into the new year.
UFOMAMMUT Tour Dates: 10/29/2023 Samhain Festival – Maastricht, NL 10/30/2023 Feierwerk – Munich, DE 11/04/2023 Sonic Rites – Helsinki, FI 11/15/2023 Mostovna – Nova Gorica, SLO 11/16/2023 Arena – Wien, AT 11/17/2023 Turbina – Budapest, HU 11/18/2023 Stadtwerkstatt – Linz, AT 11/19/2023 Kamienna – Krakow, PL 11/20/2023 Hydrozagadka – Warsaw, PL 11/21/2023 Kabinet Muz – Brno, CZ 11/22/2023 Club 007 Strahov – Prague, CZ 11/23/2023 Cassiopeia – Berlin, DE 11/24/2023 Hafenklang – Hamburg, DE 11/25/2023 4AD – Diksmuide, BE 11/26/2023 GeBAude 9 – Koln, DE 11/27/2023 P8 – Karlsruhe, DE 11/29/2023 Effenaar – Eindhoven, NL 11/30/2023 Le Bulle – Lille, FR 11/01/2023 Petit Bain – Paris, FR 11/02/2023 La Poudriere – Belfort, FR 11/03/2023 Old Capitol – Langenthal, CH
Posted in Whathaveyou on September 18th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Some emails you like to get, and word of a new release upcoming from Italian cosmic doom progenitors Ufomammut is never anything but welcome. The long-running trio will issue the three-songer EP Crookhead on Halloween through Supernatural Cat, which is their own label, with art by Malleus, which is their graphic design company/arthouse weirdo outlet. Multi-tier DIY, in other words. Preorders are up, including limited editions — there’s a clear version that will be sold on the Fall tour, 200 copies; those’ll go — and it’s a herald for the band’s next full-length, which if it shows up in 2024 will still be a pretty quick turnaround from 2022’s Fenice (review here), which was released on Neurot. An Ufomammut record every two years is pretty oldschool, but I’ll certainly take the productivity.
PR wire info follows, including the tour dates, which start Oct. 29:
“Crookhead” is a 3 songs EP and it’s anticipating the 10th Ufomammut full length coming in 2024. It is a limited edition of 500 copies in total, of which 200 in marbled red vinyl, 200 in marbled gold vinyl and 100 in clear transparent vinyl (available only during the 2023 European fall tour). Designed, hand printed and crafted in Italy by Malleus Rock Art Lab, “Crookhead EP” is available worldwide via Supernatural Cat Recs.
