JASON SAVIO
MAMMOTH – THE END
The End is the third release from Mammoth (formerly Mammoth WVH), AKA Wolfgang Van Halen. Like his previous two releases, Van Halen plays every instrument on the album, an impressive feat that at this point has become expected and maybe not as appreciated as it should be. While The End is very much a continuation of the same sound and delivery featured on the last two albums, it does show signs of growth and new approaches.
Van Halen could easily fire off guitar solo after guitar solo if he wanted, but, for the most part, he chooses his spots. The opening “One of a Kind” starts with a punch as Van Halen lays into a snare drum repeatedly. The title track follows and could have easily been just as effective as an opener; within the first minute there are enough guitar gymnastics to make you want to restart and listen again. Van Halen has mentioned a panic attack he suffered that gave inspiration to much of this album, and you can hear it in the lyrics of “The End” when he sings, “Fade out all the laws around the noise and stand tall/Now is not the time for burning out.”
The more things change they more they stay the same, and if you follow the Van Halens and singer David Lee Roth then you know the drama between them. Recent comments from DLR directed at Wolf are the background to “I Really Wanna,” a retort to the former Van Halen frontman with Wolf singing, “You cry, you lie/That painted picture won’t hang” and “Sometimes it’s like I’ve got a house in your head.” The song “Selfish” also sounds like it might be intended for the same person. Out of all the well-intentioned and more meaningful songs on The End, “I Really Wanna” comes away as the most memorable, lyrically speaking.
Wolfgang Van Halen has seemed to make an effort here to craft the songs in a more melodic way rather than just heavy guitars, and there are some heard benefits from that, especially in his singing. “Same Old Song,” ironically, is a good showcase of this. He has incorporated more shorter lines of lyrics instead of milking every line too long so that they all bleed together. Sure, there’s still a lot of that, but less than before, and that proves to help make the songs on The End stand out more individually.
For an album titled The End, this really sounds like just the beginning for Mammoth, and it’s exciting to see what Wolfgang comes up with next.
For more, visit: mammoth.band
TESTAMENT – PARA BELLUM
A.I., sleep paralysis, and war. These are just some of the cheerful things you can expect to hear about when you listen to Testament’s Para Bellum. The thrash metal kings show no sign of slowing down on their newest effort. But is it more of the same or does it offer something different?
“A dehydrated corpse will be my destiny,” sings Chuck Billy on “For the Love of Pain,” and with that Testament starts a super-charged collection of songs fans will eat up. Perhaps the best lyrics come in the cautionary “Infanticide A.I.” when Billy warns, “Destruction’s coming by the terabyte/The future’s destined to replace the soul/Dire warning, we have lost control.”
This is all par for the course, however, which isn’t bad but just what’s expected. What’s not expected is “Meant To Be,” a left turn for these thrashers that is—dare it be said—a ballad, complete with a string section. Sure, the lyrics might be a bit of ballad cookie cutter-type stuff (“We made it work somehow/We were always meant to be”), but it also somehow works and fits with these veteran metalheads. Check it out for yourself and try not to agree. Of course, the very next song, “High Noon,” screeches back into the thrash/metal lane with the opening line “High noon, death soon!” as a gun clicks, and that’s OK—the imagery of a gunslinger on the canvas of a Testament song might be one of the most badass things you’ll ever hear. But it almost makes “Meant To Be” feel like a peekaboo number, something they wanted to stick in there but quickly follow up with a familiar vibe, just in case people were bothered by the ballad. Hey, Testament: you’ve earned the right to experiment. You don’t need to hide it.
For more, visit: www.testamentlegions.com