By: Jamie Jones
Mammoth Storm | facebook | bandcamp |
Released on November 6, 2015 via Napalm Records
When you read the name Mammoth Storm, what do you picture? Torrential rain and crashing lightning? A ferocious blizzard in a frozen valley? Or a literal storm of mammoths, a crowd of big woolly bastards hurtling down from the sky upon some poor traveller?
We’re gonna need a bigger umbrella..
As odd as it may sound all the above visuals fit when listening Fornjot. On the one hand it’s an album steeped in Norse mythology, titled after a giant king who ruled over Gotland (an area that covers Finland and a large chunk of Scandinavia) who fathered the gods of wind, fire and the seas. In its droning, repetitive doom there’s the sense of storm hewn mountains and of desolate tundra. Opener Augurs Echo begins with post rock guitars tracing outlines of imposing mountains in the air, setting the scene before the inevitably crushing chords drop. When they do they have a formidably huge sound – the rhythm section heaves like it’s trying to propel longboats across the sea, whilst the vocals are given just enough echo to make them sound that bit more massive. It’s all befitting its epic subject matter.
But on the other hand it’s a record devoted to the art of the big fucking riff. It’s not too focused on its mythological themes to cut loose and rock the fuck out, albeit at a stately pace, occasionally veering towards the grooves of stoner rock. It’s this duality of purpose that makes Fornjot an interesting listen. The lyrics may speak of the deeds of half remembered gods but the music, particularly on the crushing Vultures Prey, speaks of slowly banging heads and doom claws.
Despite all that it does suffer a little from being all quite similar, bar the brief instrumental ‘Sumerian Cry’, which is strangely eastern tinged for a record about an ancient Scandinavian king. But hey, I’m no scholar on mythology. After the lengthy title track and ‘Horns of Jura’ have both blurred into each other you may start to think they’ve ran out of tricks up their sleeves. But then closer ‘Hekla’ slows things down and brings back those post rock guitars along with almost Gregorian monk style vocals for a drawn out meditative section, sandwiched by insistent riffing and the records most aggressive and guttural vocals. After a few switches between the two modes the song fades out with them locked in such a hypnotic groove that you worry that the band may still be in the studio, slowly riffing away, only being kept alive by helpful studio hands periodically feeding them as they rock. It’s the album highlight and a perfect display of Mammoth Storm’s virtues. And despite its 14 minute length leaves you wanting more.
2015 has been another vintage year for doom and whist Fornjot may not quite belong at the upper echelons of the genre’s offerings it strikes an interesting balance between being hypnotic and heroic, blending the horns-up joy of metal with the blissed out fuzz of doom and stoner, and is worthy of a listen for fans of either one.
