Mammuthus are a stoner metal/rock band from New Zealand and this is their debut album.
With a relatively brief duration of 30 minutes Mammuthus don’t mess around with filler or pointless procrastination; each track on Imperator is an exemplar of raw honesty and authentic character, as the band just want to kick out the heavy jams and steamroll everything flat as they do so.
The songs are heavy and groovy, moving through oceans of fuzzy distortion and confident vocals as they spend their time wisely concentrating on their strengths. All of the tracks have their own place and have their own pluses. The singer’s capable voice is joined on two tracks by guest vocalists too, from (ex-)Planet of the Dead and End Boss, (the latter is particularly notable on album closer Formless).
With touches of doom metal and grunge, Imperator is effortless to like. It announces itself like an old friend, and seamlessly fits into your life like it has been there all along. Companionable and warm, the music is easy to slip into without thinking. Driven by good, straightforward songs, with hooks and plenty of enjoyment, Imperator is hard to take a dislike to.
This is, very simply, a well-written and enjoyable slab of stoner metal. If you’re at all partial to the style, this hits all of the right notes, and avoids many of the glaring pitfalls the genre has. Heavy, doomy, but with personality and likability in buckets, Mammuthus have made a strong first impression.
Very highly recommended.
Wonderbox Metal 