Like punk and Pabst Blue Ribbon or Iggy Pop and peanut butter, psych-rock and heroic fantasy sagas tend to be cut from the same cloth (or cloak for that matter). Just ask the drone-metal warlocks in Mammatus. Named after what drummer Aaron Emmert describes as “huge, awesome, epic-looking clouds,” the Corralitos, California quintet compose a mammoth-sized vista complete with prog-inflected vitality.
Summoning forth a monolithic sound wash of acid-coated melodies and Black Sabbath guitars, it’s hard not to picture some gnome or critter plodding around in a dark, cryptic forest. That’s just the nature of the beast.
And speaking of beasts, not only does the band conjure up folkloric imagery in its songs, but Mammatus also incorporates it into its live performances by projecting panoramic videos and adorning costumes and robes. In fact, the band’s newest member, Zach Patten, actually plays the guise of “wizard” within the group. “He casts spells and dances around while we play,” explains Emmert. “He has this big redwood staff that he waves about and casts spells over certain parts of the songs to make them extra good.”
The band’s origins can be traced back to the summer of 2004 when the Emmert brothers (Aaron and Nicholas) and bassist Chris Freels were playing together in a band called The Sad Monsters. Shortly after finishing a tour, the trio found itself fresh out of musical ideas and went on hiatus as a result. Reconvening in 2005, the group noticed that the new songs being written were more epic in scope. “As soon as we started doing Mammatus, everything started to fall into place,” says Emmert.
Since early 2005, the quintet — comprised of Emmert, Patten, Emmert’s guitarist/
singer/brother Nicholas, Freels, and guitarist Mike Donofrio — has stirred up quite a commotion in the Santa Cruz and Bay Area music scenes. First entering into the local live show circuit playing Santa Cruz living room venues like The Cube, Mammatus has since toured the U.S. and shared bills with Kinski, Blue Cheer, Residual Echoes, Witchcraft and Japanese band Shishou No Fune.
After fleshing out the lineup to include Donofrio, who had already spent time deconstructing deafening shards of noise in Kevorkian Christmas Special, the band entered Silent Planet, its own home studio, to record the tunes that now span its latest self-titled album. Recorded by the band itself, the album’s four meaty songs make for a sheer sonic blast to the ears and sit perfectly sandwiched in between a Magma record and the Nuggets box set. The album is infused with a heaving dose of syrupy-sludge riffage and vintage wah-noise.
“The Righteous Path Through the Forest of Old” opens abruptly with a giant splash of distorted guitar, fuzzed-out bass and crashing cymbals that ascends before tiredly cascading into a kaleidoscopic wash of stoner rock and fiery psychedelia. This commendable feat demonstrates Mammatus’ ability to sound dingy, but eclectic at the same time. This can also be seen on “The Outer Rim,” where a droney buzz ebbs and flows amongst a drugged swirl of Eastern Indian rhythms and sitar-like hums before segueing into the classic rock-brewed behemoth “Dragon of the Deep Parts One and Two.”
One noticeably distinctive trait of the album is its artwork — the cover says it alone. Designed by Arik Roper, who has worked with the likes of Sleep, Sunn O))) and Comets on Fire, the album sleeve echoes a King Crimson-meets-Venom mishmash of fairytale-splattered landscapes and grotesque-looking creatures. Emmert explains, “We told Rocket [Records — the band’s U.K. label] when they wanted to put out the record the idea that we had for the artwork, and they were like, ‘Oh, well we’ll just get Arik Roper to do it.’“ Emmert adds, “He did the Dopesmoker album cover by Sleep which is one of my favorite album covers ever, so we were like, ‘Oh awesome!’“
With one album fresh in the can, Mammatus has joined fellow Cruzians Six Organs of Admittance and Comets on Fire on the Bay Area’s Holy Mountain label. Mammatus is already back in the studio, and though Emmert is uncertain of what musical journey the band will venture on next, he ensures that the new album “is going to be way cooler.”
www.myspace.com/mammatus
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