Friday 23 September 2016

ALBUM REVIEW: Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard - ‘“Y Proffwyd Dwyll”

By: Charlie Butler

Album Type: Full Length
Date Released: 30/09/2016
Label: New Heavy Sounds


  
“Y Proffwyd Dwyll” is a celestial voyage of crushing density.  “Valmasque” sets the tone for the album, establishing a towering wall of sound built from huge lumbering riffs, set against a backdrop of swirling space noise and sci-fi synths that enhance their attack and swell their sound to a galactic scale.  Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard have struck gold here with their distinct brand of spaced-out carnage.

‘“Y Proffwyd Dwyll” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1). Valmasque
2). Y Proffwyd Dwyll
3). Gallego
4). Testudo
5). Osirian
6). Cithuula


The Review:

Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard is a name that conjures certain preconceptions. New LP “Y Proffwyd Dwyll” is a colossal slab of cosmic heaviosity worthy of such a ludicrous moniker. However, the execution of these six epic tracks is a million miles from the standard stoner doom you might expect from a band whose name could’ve been generated by pointing at four random words on an Electric Wizard lyric sheet.

Valmasque” sets the tone for the album, establishing a towering wall of sound built from huge lumbering riffs. The band more than hold their own in this department, the monstrous intro of “Osirian” being a particularly prime example. Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard have a couple of tricks up their sleeve though that elevate their sound into another dimension.

The first is their use of electronics. The whole record is awash with swirling space noise and sci-fi synths that enhance their attack and swell their sound to a galactic scale. The instrumental “Gallego” brings to mind Hawkwind and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop after undergoing a sludge conversion.

The other key element here is the vocals. On first listen Jessica Ball’s vocals seem too smooth and polished against the mayhem in the background. Subsequent listens reveal them to be the lynchpin that brings everything together. Coated in layers of sweet reverb, they increase the hypnotic psychedelia of the music while adding catchy melodic hooks. The poppy chorus of “Valmasque” is like Grimes fronting Sleep doing the soundtrack to 70’s Doctor Who. The climax of “Cithuula” sees her channelling Chino Moreno at his most dramatic while the band provide a suitably crushing Deftones-indebted backdrop.

“Y Proffwyd Dwyll” is a celestial voyage of crushing density that threatens to draw their home of Wrexham into a black hole. Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard have struck gold here with their distinct brand of spaced-out carnage.

‘“Y Proffwyd Dwyll” is available here

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

RIYL: Conan, Slomatics, Yob, Windhand