Sunday 22 January 2017

Ultramafic - S/T (Album Review)


Release date: October 18th 2016. Label: Self Released. Format: DD

Ultramafic – S/T – Tracklisting

1.Greenschist 02:29
2.Serpentinite 04:16

3.Brimstone 06:24
4.Into Centralia 06:45
5.At the Foot of Tufa Towers 07:29
6.Farallon 10:55


Band Members

Kaito Figeira-Drums
Russell Stroud-Bass
Tom Norman-Guitar


Review

Instrumental Stoner Metal Power Trio – Ultramafic – debut album was mixed by a good friend of mine – Samantha Smith – who is an accomplished artist in her own right. Check out her Metallum page right here. Ultramafic entered a competition via Doomed & Stoned to get their album mixed by Samantha and they won.

The album isn't your most conventional instrumental stoner metal album as the band incorporate progressive style rhythms throughout the album. Opening track – Greenschist – is a trippy affair with the band including element of Doom and Psych riffs. The sound has a very raw appeal but it's still a very cool sound. If you're expecting something like Karma To Burn then you will sadly be disappointed. As Ultramafic are very much an experimental band.

The band is a very tight unit indeed as they create heavy moments of stoner madness that oozes confidence. Especially on tracks such as Brimstone, Into Centralia and the epic Farallon. Sometimes the album feels like a weird hallucinogenic nightmare with an almost depressing style of stoner/weedian riffs that I didn't expect from the album when first listening to it.

This is a very complex album with the songs all sounding very different to each other. The production is very good indeed but there are certain parts where the drumming is drowned out by the heavy guitars. This is considered a concept album by the band as stated on their BandCamp Page: “heavy instrumental backdrop to the geologic phenomena of our planet Earth.”

It doesn't give much insight to the overall theme of the album and I wasn't entirely convinced by the overall idea as such. Though as an Instrumental Stoner Metal album. Yeah I'm sold. As Ultramafic have created an intriguing and exciting debut album. It's one that should appeal to the more adventurous Instrumental Stoner Metal fan out there.


Words by Steve Howe

Links:

Facebook | BandCamp