Ufomammut: Eve

Ufomammut are a sludgy, doomladen three piece from Italy that have steadily been gaining some extremely positive reactions to their monolithic layers of guitar, that are laced with synth effects and sparse vocals. Basing the concept for their fifth album Eve on the first woman on Earth, who brought knowledge to Mankind, Ufomammut have released a tortured single track of forty five minutes which is broken down into five movements.

The opening movement begins with some gentle strumming and the odd synth effect and it is a full six minutes into the album before a ride cymbal is struck and we get some echoing vocals, another minute, then finally the guitar drones into life and for the final eight minutes all the elements begin to build into a long and unsatisfying crescendo. I have to be honest and say at this stage that during my first listen to Eve, I already completely lost my concentration by this stage, as to these ears, I had just listened to nearly a quarter of an hour of introduction. Only once the whole piece was complete did I realise that very little would change between the beginning of track one and the album's close.

What is intended as intense and foreboding loses all impact by merely meandering between schlock horror effects and the sort of music they used to use in films to demonstrate somebody was on LSD and having a really bad trip. To some people this attempt at building tension with no resolution may transfix them and transport them to another world, however my impression is that you would need to have altered your state previously to gain anything from the tedium that trickles out of this disc.

There is the odd moment of interest that lifts the spirits and leads to the belief that something exciting may be just round the corner, however even the briefest glimpse is quickly snatched away into yet more noodling of the most dreary nature.

Hopefully Ufomammut might write some songs for their next album.

As an aside, I have to make mention of the fact that if the music of Ufomammut is what turns you on, then have a quick visit to their website and pick up the limited vinyl version of the album. It comes in either black or translucent vinyl with a CD and DVD of the songs and judging by the pictures of the prototype the packaging will be almost worth owning by itself.

Track Listing
1. Eve

Added: April 13th 2010
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Band's Web Site
Hits: 3262
Language: english

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