Snailking

It doesn't really come as that much of a surprise to me that this album received a lot of acclaim when it came out, not just from fans, but from art critics as well- this is not only an album that retains a lot of its own individual personality (as all of Ufomammut's album have a good quality of doing) but also sounds very informed on what was trending at the time in metal- indeed, as bands like Neurosis and Isis were rising to prominence and post-rock was just beginning to slowly creep its way into metal (at this point mostly in sludge and offshoots of the genre rooted somewhat in hardcore, but now the post-rock snake is basically everywhere), Ufomammut sound ahead of the times with their sound; they're ambient and provoking, but still very, very sludgy. There's a bitter, grimy taste to this album that doesn't sound rooted in any sort of the influences that were present on Godlike Snake- and I mean, this band did eventually get signed to Neurot Recordings, a label just for Neurosis records and bands Neurosis feel are close to them, so it should only be assumed that these guys are heavily inspired by the resentful and overwhelming dismay of sludge. Aesthetically, this gives it a much more interesting surface appeal than most Ufomammut albums, because these guys were pretty early to the post-sludgecore game, almost as early as the progenitors. That's just the way, though; Ufomammut will forever be a second-tier underground post-sludgecore band, especially considering these guys just went off into their own little world, alienating almost everybody for a few years...

Although this is a very strange and experimental album, Snailking still manages to be one of their most accessible releases; they hadn't quite settled into the idea of writing one big long song broken up into several parts, and as such the album manages to be a marginally varied collection of songs but the diversion is somewhat overshadowed by the pulsating buzz of the guitar tone- up there with the tones on Dopethrone, Dopesmoker and Satan Worshipping Doom as one of the most filthy and prickly in doom metal. It works better in some places than it does in others- when introduced after a long, sparse keyboard section or slower crescendo in the style of a monster doom groove it compliments the effect amazingly well, but when it is used in conjunction with a bluesy rock riff (see: "Odio") the catchiness and the heaviness are both negatively affected. There's a melting pot of various riffs mostly pertaining to sludge, doom, and old psychedelic rock twisted into an only somewhat recognizable form, and the tone, while certainly sick and super-heavy in its own right doesn't always mesh very well with the riffs themselves. It's one of those cases where the face of the album seems to overshadow the songwriting and underlying intent, and usually that pisses me off a lot but these guys are a good band with a good concept and it does work well sometimes so it's a little easier to let slide. There is a somewhat glaring lack of synthesis, though, especially considering the band usually doesn't even sound like they're working from three separate brains.

The secondary elements of the album are not quite at their strongest; none of the quirky, eerie keyboard melodies that were seen on occasion on Godlike Snake are present here and the keyboard have overall been relegated to a background instrument on this release; there are some moments in "Alcool" and "Demontain", where they become the focal point, but only in the latter track do they do anything remotely interesting. The vocals have opted to focus much more on a Neurosis-esque hardcore shout, with almost anything but raw, static aggression removed from them in their various forms- they would definitely go on to tweak the vocals a little better on subsequent releases, and their position as a component with much more weight in the music kind of removes some of the mystique and allure that the vocals had to them when they just echoed down from the background. They are simultaneously diverse and homogenous, and not entirely beneficial to the large arrangement of riffs in that sense.

Each individual track has its strong moments, but no track really manages to shine on its own- I know it's hideously lame to call a fucking doom band "too cluttered", because on a larger scale this is, of course, somewhat low in the musical idea spectrum. However, the bigger the better for these guys, and how quickly the riffs and themes develop in contrast to the rest of their releases is not only a testament to why this is one of their few albums that garnered outside appeal, but also to why this isn't quite as powerful as the other stuff they've done. The big riffs aren't made out to be quite as big, and one of the little things I love about this band is how they introduce the huge, hideous mammoth; it's done at such a crawl that you yearn to see what they'll slowly reveal next, and though there's much more to look at here, there's less that you truly appreciate. It's for that reason that "Demontain", the gigantic obligatory 28-minute behemoth to close the album out. They don't ease you into it, either; "Alcool" is mostly just an ambient bridge and "Braindome" is a disgusting drawn-out sludgy dirge, so this is not for the short of attention span. Because the ridiculous song length allows for retarded slow pacing, it's much more conceptual and enthralling than the rest of the material on the album.

That's really the heart of it- because Ufomammut are a rare band capable of writing an album that equals more than the sum of its songs, the more diverse, accessible and dare I say trendy approach on this album tends to paint the album as a collection of separate pieces indirectly related- this somewhat worked to their advantage on Godlike Snake, but it's here that they really show that they can be something greater than that and have an overarching theme across the course of several tracks. Snailking rarely steps into that mold, though; in its half-realization, it falls quite short of its goals. It is loosely connected, with some ideas showing resemblance but the reason for their resemblance remains yet to be unexplained. This strikes me as an album where the band got into a really creative groove and wrote a lot of music for the album, but in their excitement they didn't quite trim the fat as much as they should have. The thing that really gets me stoked about this release is that it shows Ufomammut are capable songwriters as much as they are riff machines, and oh my is that ever going to help give us some sweet tunes later on.

Many doom metal bands, those aligned with the stoner rock end of the spectrum mostly, tend to revel in their unoriginal, if not effective sound. Armed with the same heavy metal stomp of early Black Sabbath and their successors, these third-generation doom bands of today seem to content with simply perserving tradition instead of mapping new musical territories. While these bands are enjoyable more often than not (usually for that reason), it tends to leave something more to be desired.

Enter Ufomammut, a four-piece doom metal band that looks to further innovate the genre we all know and love without wholly abandoning its trademarks. Drawing influence from acts ranging from today's top-tier doom superstars Electric Wizard and the more atmospheric Neurosis, to the psychedelic and spacey stylings of Hawkwind and Pink Floyd, Ufomammut is doing anything but phoning in another standard doom metal album. Instead, they opt to craft doomy, monolithic riffs against a deep-space backdrop, creating visions of swirling blackholes deep within a cosmic sea. With ambience abound, this sounds more like a wonderful intergalactic excursion than another trip down the much-trodden path of doom and gloom. This much is evidenced by the opening track, "Blotch", in which a riff colossal enough to throw a planet off its orbit surfaces from a meandrous, spaced-out jam. "Lacrimosa" is simply haunting, featuring vocals more on the clean end of the spectrum before a interlude that is equal parts Pink Floyd and post-rock until reverting back to the band's visceral doom, remaining throughly spaced-out throughout. The band is far from pretentious, proving they are not above a good stoner jam that morphs into a bit of a death/doom number on "Odio".

Vocals are pretty minimalist, buried beneath the thick, bassy mix to convey that feeling of despair not much removed from Electric Wizard's approach on the seminal doom landmark 'Dopethrone'. Speaking of the Wizard, the drummer here is definitely reminiscient of Justin Greaves, pounding away at slow, mammoth patterns that eventually give way to brief yet frenzied drum fills. Aside from the vocals, we are treated to a few samples, which are both tasteful and appropriate, unlike many grind bands that get sample-happy to the point where it becomes a major component of the music. The bass does nothing but keep everything anchored and rightfully heavy, at the same time, leaving nothing to be desired.

Inventive, introspective, well-varied and downright heavy, Ufomammut makes a great recommendation to any fan of the genre, casual or die-hard. Those with inclinations that can be best described as "post-rock" or "progressive" will no doubt find something to appreciate here as well. The references to other bands here might not show the band in an entirely original light, but this is fresh and quality enough to be considered a high-mark for doom metal of the last couple of years.