ACID MAMMOTH – Caravan by HEAVY PSYCH SOUNDS Records<\/a><\/iframe><\/p>\nIt’s not a dud of a record, by any stretch. The back half definitely shows some more thoughtful songwriting, with the main riffs from \u201cIvory Tower\u201d showing evolution as the song goes on, and \u201cBlack Dust\u201d featuring some portions that, while not quite sturdy enough to carry an entire song, are at least a bit more multi-faceted and not so out-of-the-box doom. The title track is the strongest slice of the bunch, coming the closest to the versatile, fully functional doom engine of days past: Well-supported and distributed riffs that make the entire band feel more awake, with leads and rhythm backing each other up while maintaining independence, drums and bass guiding the way ahead. A procession of very heavy beasts, each their own, but all of the same kin, just like the title says.<\/p>\n
The record definitely suffers from the weaker openers, though. In a genre this focused on building and maintaining effective momentum, the first third is stuck in the mire with no chance to stretch. By the time we hit \u201cCaravan\u201d, the band shakes off the muck and starts to return to form, but they’ve just gotten warmed up by the time it closes out. As it turns out, the real strength of Under Acid Hoof<\/i> was the arrangement. There were plenty of hooks to go around, and Caravan<\/i> boasts its fair share as well, but they aren’t set up to contrast with one another as sharply. The songs feel a bit too single-minded, a trap that many doom bands find themselves stuck in when they decide jamming one feel is all they want to do.<\/p>\n
With the one year turnaround, I think that Acid Mammoth may have needed some more time to mix-and-match their ideas to make them stand out against others in the same song. A little extra time to bake might have yielded the desired results. Better yet, break up the first two tracks and cannibalize them for break riffs elsewhere. Caravan<\/i> already seems intended as an expansion pack to Under Acid Hoof<\/i>, but a tight EP would be as functional a continuation as another full-length. Especially if, as I suspect, the purpose of this release is to try and get some buzz back on the band as they shake off the dust and get ready for another shot at live shows in a few months. As it is, we get a competent but lesser image of the original, a cave painting compared to a colossus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One foot in the tar pit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":107525,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Acid Mammoth got stuck in La Brea.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[12,403,70],"tags":[16356],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toiletovhell.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/ACID-MAMMOTH-Caravan-black-LP.jpg?fit=750%2C325&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107523"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/112"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107523"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107523\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107548,"href":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107523\/revisions\/107548"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}