Let's venture "down under" again, not this time to "the land of plenty" where Australian combo Men at Work told us "women glow and men chunder" but to Australia's near neighbour New Zealand. the home of Maori's, rugby and sheep. New Zealand is somewhat in its infancy regarding underground rock but they are catching up fast with bands like EnFire, Planet of the Dead and Beastwars all making significant waves outside of their home turf. The latest NZ band to catch Desert Psychlist's ear are Matt Bradford (bass); Rob Dring (drums) and Josh Micallef (guitar/vocals), a trio from Wellington calling themselves Mammuthus. The band have just released their debut EP. "Mammuthus EP", four brief but highly enjoyable songs packed with distortion drenched riffs, swinging rhythms and cool clean vocals.
"Mammuthus EP" opens with "Without You" a song introduced by a rotating, heavily phased, guitar riff that is then joined by a clean but nicely wearied vocal. Drums and bass then join the fray and the band slip into a heavy stonerized blues groove drenched in fuzz and driven by busy solid percussion around which the guitarist layers screaming, swirling lead work before the song then shifts into Sabbathesque proto-doomic mode to take things over the line. "Backdoor" rears its gnarly head next, a throbbing heavy stoner outing swamped in fuzz and distortion and boasting a chorus that sticks in your head long after the song has finished. "Bloodworm" follows and begins as a slow doomic blues decorated in superbly executed and heavily effected vocal tones before once again bowing out on a wave of chugging proto-doomic groove. "Something New" closes proceedings and finds the band channeling a little Kyuss-like desert swagger into their bluesy proto-doomic onslaught thereby finishing, what is a superb collection of songs, on the same high they began it with.
In boxing they say that it is the short sharp jabs that cause the most damage and Mammathus have applied that theory to their musical endeavors with "Mammathus EP", hitting the listener hard and fast with little three minute flurries that although brief are highly effective.
© 2020 Frazer Jones
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