Over the next couple months, ethereal Welsh doomers Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard will take part in a slew of festivals across the UK and Europe, from Desertfest London in April to Germany’s Stoned from the Underground in July to Portugal’s SonicBlast Moledo in August. All the while, the now-fivesome from Wrexham continue to rightly reap acclaim for their 2016 New Heavy Sounds full-length, Y Proffwyd Dwyll (review here). From their attention-grabbing moniker to their floatingly melodic and keyboard-infused semi-cosmic doom, the band would seem to have struck a chord amid the crowded UK underground, and as one checks out the video for Y Proffwyd Dwyll‘s title-track below, the reasons why should be that much clearer.

Where much of the UK scene at this point is given to straight-ahead heavy rock riffing and booze-laden post-Orange Goblin riffing, Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard manage to find a niche in doom that’s neither that, nor playing at Electric Wizard-style cultistry, nor Uncle Acid‘s garage psychedelia. Yet they bask in heavy riffs, a ritualized sensibility and psychedelic overtones — they’re just taking all of them and putting them to use in their own direction. Doesn’t seem like something that should be a novelty, but in the context of Y Proffwyd Dwyll, it’s an engagement made all the more striking by the memorable nature of cuts like “Valmasque” and “Y Proffwyd Dwyll” itself, and Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard set a deceptive balance between hypnosis-via-atmospherics and songwriting that even if it wasn’t so outwardly grooving would still likely earn nods.

Particularly coming from their already-impressive 2015 debut, Noeth Ac Anoeth (review here), Y Proffwyd Dwyll is a significant forward step for the band, and given that they’re beginning to expand beyond their own borders and explore wider touring, one can only hope that progression will hold strong leading to whatever comes next from them. We’ve probably got a while to go before we get there — at least another year, I’d think — but in the meantime, they keep their momentum rolling with the video for “Y Proffwyd Dwyll” and the potential for more tour and festival dates still to be announced.

I’m not exactly sure what’s happening narrative-wise in the clip, but you can see it for yourself below, courtesy of the Vevo stream, followed by the credits and copious links for further digging.

Please enjoy:

Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard, “Y Proffwyd Dwyll” official video

Last year filmaker Dimitris Kotselis decided to make a piece featuring Y Proffwyd Dwyll starring actress Penelope Tsillika and Mwwb’s own Jessica Ball. Here it is.

Artists: Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard
Directed By: Dimitris Kotselis
Composers: Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard
Producers: Maria Repousi
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Consider this your usual disclaimer that, like any of this site’s coverage of year-end whatnottery, this podcast is by no means attempting to capture all of 2016’s best tracks. It is, however, over four hours long, and frankly that seems like enough to ask. If you decide to take it on and sample what I found to be some of the best material to come down the line over the last 12 months, please know you have my thanks in advance. For what it’s worth, it was a lot of fun to put together, and that’s not always the case with these.

But about the length. I’ve done double-sized year-end specials for a while now. It’s always just seemed a fair way to go. And the last few at least have been posted the week of the Xmas holiday as well, which for me is of dual significance since it just so happens four hours is right about what it takes to drive from where I live to where my family lives, so when I look at this massive slew of 34 acts, from the riff-led righteousness of Wo Fat and Curse the Son to the crush of Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard and SubRosa to the psychedelic reaches of Zun and Øresund Space Collective (who probably show up in podcasts more than anyone, oddly enough), I also think of going to see my family, which has become my favorite part of the holidays.

Whatever associations you might draw with it, I very much hope you enjoy listening. Thanks for taking the time.

Track details follow:

First Hour:

0:00:00 Wo Fat, “There’s Something Sinister in the Wind” from Midnight Cometh
0:09:35 Greenleaf, “Howl” from Rise Above the Meadow
0:14:57 Elephant Tree, “Aphotic Blues” from Elephant Tree
0:20:49 Brant Bjork, “The Gree Heen” from Tao of the Devil
0:26:27 Sergio Ch., “El Herrero” from Aurora
0:29:44 Child, “Blue Side of the Collar” from Blueside
0:35:31 Geezer, “Bi-Polar Vortex” from Geezer
0:43:59 Zun, “Come Through the Water” from Burial Sunrise
0:49:27 Baby Woodrose, “Mind Control Machine” from Freedom
0:54:11 Curse the Son, “Hull Crush Depth” from Isolator
0:59:31 Borracho, “Shot down, Banged up, Fade Away” from Atacama

Second Hour:

1:05:50 Scissorfight, “Nature’s Cruelest Mistake” from Chaos County
1:09:19 Truckfighters, “The Contract” from V
1:16:30 Spidergawd, “El Corazon del Sol” from III
1:21:24 Fatso Jetson, “Royal Family” from Idle Hands
1:26:13 Worshipper, “Step Behind” from Shadow Hymns
1:30:57 Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard, “Y Proffwyd Dwyll” from Y Proffwyd Dwyll
1:39:42 Druglord, “Regret to Dismember” from Deepest Regrets
1:46:34 Moon Coven, “New Season” from Moon Coven
1:52:03 Gozu, “Tin Chicken” from Revival
1:59:49 Year of the Cobra, “Vision of Three” from …In the Shadows Below

Third Hour:

2:06:53 The Munsens, “Abbey Rose” from Abbey Rose
2:14:56 Lamp of the Universe, “Mu” from Hidden Knowledge
2:21:26 1000mods, “On a Stone” from Repeated Exposure To…
2:26:45 Church of the Cosmic Skull, “Watch it Grow” from Is Satan Real?
2:30:43 Vokonis, “Acid Pilgrim” from Olde One Ascending
2:37:35 Slomatics, “Electric Breath” from Future Echo Returns
2:43:02 Droids Attack, “Sci-Fi or Die” from Sci-Fi or Die
2:47:20 King Buffalo, “Drinking from the River Rising” from Orion
2:56:51 Comet Control, “Artificial Light” from Center of the Maze

Fourth Hour:

3:06:37 Øresund Space Collective, “Above the Corner” from Visions Of…
3:22:51 Naxatras, “Garden of the Senses” from II
3:33:14 SubRosa, “Black Majesty” from For this We Fought the Battle of Ages
3:48:23 Seedy Jeezus with Isaiah Mitchell, “Escape Through the Rift” from Tranquonauts

Total running time: 4:07:32

 

Thank you for listening.

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It is almost too easy to get caught up in the surface-level presentation of Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard. One sees their name — and by now, even the band were inclined, it’s probably too late to change that; a side-effect of actually being good and gaining some measure of recognition for it — and hears the dominant murk in the guitars of Paul Michael Davies and Wez Leon and the bass of Jessica Ball set to the roll of James “Carrat” Carrington‘s drums and thinks it’s easy to figure out. But even with the ultra-dense production provided by Conan‘s Chris Fielding at Skyhammer Studios, the Wrexham, UK, four-piece have more to offer on their second LP, Y Proffwyd Dwyll (“false prophets”) than tonal excess and post-Electric Wizard nod.

When New Heavy Sounds released the band’s 2015 debut, Noeth Ac Anoeth (review here), they referred to Jessica Ball as the group’s “secret weapon” because of the melodic resonance her vocals brought to their material. Not sure how one can be a secret while fronting the band, but the point is taken. I’d argue that on the follow-up LP, if there’s a weapon that shines in Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard‘s arsenal, it’s the songwriting. That’s also where one finds the greatest evidence of creative progression coming off Noeth Ac Anoeth and the 30-minute Nachthexen single (review here) before it. At six tracks/48 minutes, Y Proffwyd Dwyll is shorter on the whole and in its individual pieces than anything on its predecessor, opening with its longest cut (immediate points) “Valmasque” at 9:40 and giving an immediate sense of memorability to the flow that follows.

Second perhaps to the overarching growth in craftsmanship, the atmospheric elements at play throughout Y Proffwyd Dwyll are important to note. All four members of the band, Ball, Davies, Leon and Carrington, contribute synth at one point or another, and it has a great effect on the sound and mood, and not just on a cut like instrumental side A closer “Gallego.” One can hear space rock-style swirl in the title-track and beneath the guitar of “Testudo,” fleshing out the mix and distinguishing Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard from the likes of Windhand. Amid the chug and crash of “Valmasque” and the march that emerges in the second half of the subsequent title-track, this experimental edge serves to bolster the songs, and in combination with the layers of Ball‘s vocals and the aforementioned tonal onslaught, it makes Y Proffwyd Dwyll a richer listen entirely.

Taken in combination with the added sense of structure that, admittedly, began to show itself on Noeth Ac Anoeth but was perhaps obscured by the inclusion there of the half-hour-long “Nachthexen,” Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard come across throughout as a band who’ve found their sound and are ready to take on the task of moving forward and refining it. Already that process seems to be in motion as “Testudo,” “Osirian” and “Cithuula” comprise the album’s second half, rolling out with patience and doom-charged grandiosity — looking at you, “Osirian” — as tempo shifts, breaks, feedback and dramatic layering are all put to skilled use.

Again, one could listen to those songs or “Valmasque,” “Y Proffwyd Dwyll” and “Gallego” and simply be wowed by the bludgeoning at hand — I’m not even sure that would be a wrong way to hear it — but it would mean missing at least half the point of what Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard are doing and ignoring the development they’ve clearly undertaken.

An even more telling moment of arrival takes place with “Cithuula.” After “Testudo” and “Osirian” confirm and build on what “Valmasque” and “Y Proffwyd Dwyll” accomplished on side A, the closer is all the more a standout because of its length, its pace and the fact that unlike “Gallego,” it’s not instrumental. Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard have galloped before — that’s not necessarily new for them — but as they build into the last push of “Cithuula” are beating out a couple verses, cut short and are led into the payoff by Ball‘s vocals, they bring about their most engaging stretch to-date what feels like the most forward-thinking and hook they’ve yet realized. Almost like they’re giving a glimpse at what comes next.

Of course, that may or may not actually be the case. I don’t know when one song was written as opposed to the others and time doesn’t always matter in those instances, but as Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard make ready to return their audience to a reality not comprised of ethereal moodiness and air thrust through cabinets driven by burning tube amps, they do so with a progressive edge that only 18 months ago seemed like a remote possibility. Like the emphasis on synth across the board helping to construct an atmospheric personality, the closer broadens the context of the tracks surrounding, making Y Proffwyd Dwyll a more complete experience front to back.

Yes, they have a silly moniker, and yes, when played loud, their songs have headbang-worthy groove and a crush to rival anyone you might want to situate in their path. These things are true. But if Y Proffwyd Dwyll demonstrates anything it’s that the story of Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard isn’t necessarily defined by either of them alone as so many bands are, and that they’re working quickly on a development that’s just beginning to mark out the terms of its true potential.

Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard, Y Proffwyd Dwyll (2016)

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