Amammoth - Distant Skies And The Ocean Flies (Album Review)

Release Date: March 21st 2025. Record Label: Electric Valley Records. Formats: DD/Vinyl.

Distant Skies And The Ocean Flies - Tracklisting

1.Intro

2.Among Us

3.Chosen

4.So High So Numb

5.Sink or Swim

6.Satellite 05:34

7.Ashes Remain

8.Interstitial

Members

Scott Fisher – vocals, guitar 

Scott Wilson – drums 

Warwick Poulton – bass

Review

Aussie Sludge/Stoner Metallers Amammoth second album Distant Skies And The Ocean Flies is quite an aggressive and obsessively bleak record with the band developing harsh atmospherics with a violent Fuzz Doom sound. With the band aligning themselves more closely to the likes of CONAN, High On Fire, BONGZILLA and SLEEP. There’s a deep fascination with LOW & SLOW and REVERB based heaviness within this record which comes out in full force across the opening tracks of Intro and Among Us. The sounds are weighed down by a mighty thick level of NOISE and GRIME which Amammoth have used on their previous records but not as fully developed or as heavy as this great album.

Second track Among Us is the longest track on the album with Amammoth using a classic ELECTRIC WIZARD mentality for their lyrics and how Scott Fisher’s muscular vocals are delivered. The sound may seem simplistic at times but it’s the little things that you begin to notice at how progressive and refreshing everything sounds. Subtle flashes of Psychedelic Beats and that claustrophobic Doomed Out energy that resonates from the excellent rhythm section of Scott Wilson on Drums and Warwick Poulton on Bass respectively. The song is quite slow to begin with but the band speed things up ever so slightly with a killer Blues Rock sound developing which allows the record to become more OCCULT focused at times.

Distant Skies And The Ocean Flies lyrical themes cover topics such as extraterrestrial life, religion, aquatic and UFO’s that will thrust the listener into many complex ideas and theories. However, Amammoth have quite the talent of keeping everything grounded and realistic. The sounds become more blurred with elements of Groove, Drone and Space Rock appearing more on more on tracks such as Chosen, So High So Numb, Sink Or Swim, Satellite and Interstitial which allows Amammoth the perfect opportunity to finely tune their seedy style of LOW & SLOW to reach greater musical heights. 

The record never loses its sense of bleakness and self-loathing at the world. There are no uplifting instrumental passages or tracks for Amammoth to lighten the mood with. This is a band who focus upon the darker side of Sludge/Stoner Metal and just run RIOT with this style of music. Distant Skies And The Ocean Flies is an exhilarating experience where you may need to switch off from the world after listening to the album. 

Amammoth are one of the heaviest and filthiest bands to emerge from the Aussie Sludge/Stoner Metal scene in recent years and they sure do have the necessary talent to back that up with a MASSIVE SOUNDING record that should propel the band onto bigger and greater things. Be prepared to see this album claiming one of those important Album Of The Year Contender spots before the year is out. It’s already grabbed a place on mine….

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Qabar PR for the promo.

Distant Skies And The Ocean Flies is available to buy on DD/Vinyl from the links below.

Electric Valley Records Official

Electric Valley Records BandCamp

Glory Or Death Records (North America Only)

Links

 

https://www.facebook.com/amammoth

https://www.instagram.com/amammothdoom
https://amammoth.bandcamp.com

Amammoth - The Fire Above (Album Review)

Release date: March 19th 2021. Label: Electric Valley Records. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

The Fire Above - Tracklisting:

Heal (7:10)
The Sun (4:10)
Shadows (7:39)
Rise (6:43)
Blade Runner (6:30)
Walk Towards That Blinds You (Blood Bong) (6:59)

Members:

Scott Fisher - Vocals, Guitars
Scott Wilson - Drums
Luis Lipovac - Bass, Backing Vocals, Organ on “Shadows” and “Rise”

Review:

The voluptuous and gradual opening done in an almost deliberately ceremonial path already foreshadow the size of the trouble that comes directly from Australia with the trio Amammoth. "Heal" is just the opening of "The Fire Above", Amammoth’s full album debut, and takes more than half of the duration to introduce the urgent and soaked in desperation Scott Fisher's vocals. But it’s also already introduces a good notion of what the work of these guys is about with a constant and standardized development, which serves the purpose of introducing in a measured way the terror like a veil that gradually disappears revealing an indescribable threat.

With a official release (or “invocation” if you prefer) scheduled for March,19 by the Italian label Electric Valley Records, “The Fire Above” is a compendium of good results and a sum of efforts that can be attributed to a band that dominates with good accurately how to manage their resources. Transiting between elements linked to Sludge Metal and Doom and mainly highlighting echoes from bands like Dopethrone, Eyehategod and Bongzilla the material meanders languidly and excruciatingly like a ceremonial dagger, lashing out mercilessly with their fuzzy punctual and dense riffs.

"The Sun" may denote the brightest and most vivid side but it can also be interpreted as the most terrifyingly hot and incinerating face of the Astro-King in the form of a Sludge / Doom epic through the Eyehategod’s influence. With methodical measures of shredding riffs and hammering drums interspersed by Fisher's sick vocals the track progresses in their hypnotic and resounding path. "Shadows" is the third and longest track of the work and again takes the due time to insert an introduction in a patient and calculated way, a totally necessary element to prepare a good Doom Metal track. Scott ( not Fisher, but Wilson) does a very proficient and commendable job on the drums with the exact measure of fit in the atmosphere on the track, adding to a great work of mixing and balancing of the segments.

In the final segment of the work we have the equally good "Rise" and "Blade Runner", being "Rise" perhaps the most gloomy and deeply cavernous track on the album, with certain atmospheric addition and endowed with a exotic melody in the ending; and "Blade Runner" introduces the final stretch of the material with equal solidity and density being succeeded by the ultimate "Walk Towards What Blinds You (Blood Bong)", which closes the material at a high level with punctual accelerations of progress.

I would say it’s very hard to point out any element that makes possible to affirm that “The Fire Above” is not a great debut material, and quite the opposite: if it doesn’t overflow in originality the new album of the Australian trio Amammoth released by Electric Valley remains in great care, technical quality and refined in all possible segments giving a enjoyable and dense hearing for the most demanding fans of Sludge, Doom and Stoner.

Words by Matheus Jacques

Thanks to Qabar PR for the promo. The Fire Above will be available to buy on CD/DD/Vinyl via Electric Valley Records from March 19th 2021.

Links:

FACEBOOK | BANDCAMP