Release Date: June 23rd 2023. Record Label: Self Released. Formats: DD/Vinyl
Expanding Majesty: Tracklisting
Expanding Majesty
By The Sky
Foreveriff
Beams Of Light
Members
Aaron Emmert - Drums, Synth
Nicky Emmert - Guitar, Vocals, Synth
Chris Freels - Bass, Synth
Review:
Expanding Majesty is the new album from Psychedelic Stoner Rock legends Mammatus and is their first album in eight years and sees the band take a more expansive and cinematic journey with their Progressive Rock tinged grooves. The album runs for a mind expanding sixty nine minutes in length with Mammatus exploring a more Ambient driven and melodic score compared to their previous albums. With the sublime "FANTASY" inspired cover that draws upon the classical fantastical album covers of Yes and Asia created by the legendary Roger Dean, which does give a slight peak on what to expect within the creative themes of the album.
However, Expanding Majesty is an album that explores the many different areas and creative avenues of Heavy Psych, Stoner Rock and Post Rock. With each song lasting between fifteen minutes to twenty two minutes in length, Mammatus have a free-flowing approach to their music which you encounter early on within the outstanding opening track of Expanding Majesty. Perhaps their most progressive release to date but the album is full of beautifully played Ambient Post-Rock textures which ultimately give way to heavier outbursts of Stoner Rock/Metal.
The vocals are clean based and quite sweet-natured with a genuine sense of warmth behind them. By The Sky and Foreveriff are perhaps the heaviest tracks on the album with Mammatus operating with a more Stoner Metallic delivery within their music. If you're new to Mammatus then play similar styles of music to bands such as King Buffalo, Elder, Earthless, SLEEP and Mars Red Sky but still creating their own highly stylish and original sound.
Mammatus can be an Instrumental Rock band powered by long progressive jams one moment and the next they've changed into a heavier Psychedelic Stoner Metal band with heavy slabs of Ambient based Rock/Metal. The solos are long and the use of multiple different based instruments is always refreshing to hear mostly on Expanding Majesty and Beams Of Light.
Expanding Majesty sounds like SLEEP jamming with Seventies Prog Rock masters such as Yes and King Crimson but with a more diverse Stoner groove being ever present even within the quieter acoustic passages. Will everyone like or fully understand this album? That's hard to say. As the album does make you earn your reward for long periods of time for the heavier grooves to appear. However, Mammatus always plays epic sounds that show how brilliantly creative they are both musically and within the lyrics written for this album.
The album also shows how technically gifted Mammatus are with their impressive blend of Prog Rock/Metal riff wizardry which is backed up by sublime use of SONIC EXPERIMENTATION which gives Expanding Majesty a truly out of this world feel.
Expanding Majesty is a brilliant and truly original album which can be considered as Mammatus most important and essential release to date.
Words by Steve Howe
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