MAMMATUS

Mammatus is a stoner rock band that released their self titled debut in 2006. It got a fairly decent amount of attention, not for innovation, but for its well played stoner rock. It has all the good characteristics of the genre: a lot of repetitive heavy riffing, aggressive playing and excellent jams. The vocalist is almost always drowned in the distortion of their sound, but that really isn't a problem and it works well with their music and style. The jams are well executed and their energy really shows on these four songs. The name titles of the album may look pretentious, ("The Righteous Path Through the Forest of Old") but there isn't really a story to follow here (although you're free to create one if you wish). There are some nice trance-inducing psychedelic passages in the middle of the jams specially on their 20+ minute "Dragon of the Deep pt. 2" ,which is the stand out track on the album, and they add a nice dimension to their heavy music.

There isn't much to say here really. If you're a fan of stoner rock then you'll feel right at home with this band and if you don't know what the heck stoner rock is then give Mammatus a try. They are very accessible and have all the good qualities one can expects from stoner rock, but for fans of the genre don't expect anything new here only well played music.