Arkansas

Mammoth Caravan, Ice Cold Oblivion (2023)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , , ,

The new record from Mammoth Caravan has the weight and pace of an ancient glacier of doom: Ice Cold Oblivion.

Mammoth Caravan is from Little Rock, Arkansas. They are a doom band, and they don’t sound like anything I heard when I was last in Little Rock. Huge riffs and inventive constructions surround variegated vocals and flaring guitar to produce fantastic results. The band is Brandon Ringo (bass, vocals), Evan Swift (guitar vocals), and Robert Warner (drums).

The odd tinkling sounds that open the set on “Ice Cold Oblivion” give no clue that titanic riffs will follow. Neither do they hint at the gravely vocals which align perfectly with the other instruments. Mystical, freezing doom is what this is. “Nomad” is a clomping continuation, a revving up of the premise established in the opener. With a tighter pace and steady drive, much ground is covered, and a tasty lead guitar break is introduced, opening the way for huffing vocals that might have come from an actual mammoth. “Petroglyphs” is a melancholic spellcaster, a cratered celestial body of ancient wisdom. The beautiful wind-down is haunting.

Side two offers first “Megafauna,” a temperamental tune that rattles you and brings on an itch. “Periglacial” is a fascinating piece, with unexpected drumming and vocals, that latter being clean and clear at the front, creating an epic metal expectation and delivering something off to the side of that. It is one of my favorite tracks on the album. The set closes on “Frostbite,” an eleven-minute creeper that is so entrancing you might forget to breathe. I love this song. The entire album has impressed me, clocking doom as it does and ploughing a course all its own. Recommended.

Ice Cold Oblivion is out on Saturday, February 25th. Listen and buy at Bandcamp through the link below.

Band Photo by Kurt Lunsford.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://mammothcaravan.bandcamp.com/album/ice-cold-oblivion

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/MammothCaravan

© Wayne Edwards

Mammoth Caravan, Ice Cold Oblivion (2023)

Bones Of The Earth, II (2021)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , ,

The story continues on the second concept album from Arkansas metal band Bones of the Earth.

The band is a Doom trio from Arkansas. The musicians are Erik Ebsen (guitar), Raif Box (bass and vocals), and Cody Martin (drums and vocals) Their first album, The Imminent Decline of Human Spirit, came out in 2019 and started the tale. This new one, Eternal Meditations of a Deathless Crown, continues the story of a cycle of transformation in the universe where organic life eventually becomes artificial life, and then reverts to organic again.

You can see parallels between this concept and all sorts of things around you all the time. Even while there is constant change the same themes and instances seem to come up again and again, like they are on some long-run cycle that cannot be broken. Doom and Sludge Metal surely are the appropriate musical perspective to tell a story like this.

The opening foray is the instrumental “Decline,” voiceless except for some whispering at the end. “Machine Rising” is a syncopated calamity. The vocals are projected to the straining point and the music bends at sharp angles as the steady sound base holds up a platform for the other pieces to excel. There is an ebb and flow to the album with each song adding another piece to the puzzle and presenting it in a different way. The track “Inoperable,” for example, has amazing guitar work and a heavy blues feel that swirls in the eerie menace of the world it inhabits.

There is an unstoppable quality in the music. You feel like you are on a ride that has no exit. Progressive-sounding elements twinkle in the sludge and doom, but they are not reassuring. No, they are the sound of the mechanical overlord, the cadence of inevitability. Trapped in the system, in the cycle, anxiety builds in the music and it gets to you as you listen. The story genuinely is part of the music and it comes through naturally. The album is exceptional. Recommended.

CDs, cassettes, and digital downloads are out on Friday April 2nd. Pick up a copy so you can get the whole story. The first album is also on Bandcamp in case you want to see how this all started.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://bonesoftheearth.bandcamp.com/

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/bonesoftheearthband

Bones Of The Earth, II (2021)