In 2012 Ufomammut* released a great, great LP Oro: Opus Primum, an atmospheric monolith of a space rocker that sounded like something going very wrong indeed on an intergalactic mining vessel. A few months later they released Oro: Opus Alter, an atmospheric monolith of a space rocker that sounded like something going very wrong indeed on an intergalactic mining vessel – with extra heaviness.
I confess it has taken me a lot longer to get to grips with Oro: Opus Alter** than its’ predecessor, it is far heavier in places and lacked some of the spacey synth hooks that snagged me first time around. These last couple of weeks have been the first time I have spent some proper darkened room listening time with it since I bought it, this is a hazardous procedure which usually involves me falling fast asleep within 3 minutes of the first track and waking up 5 hours later with drool soaking the front of my shirt and a stone cold coffee, which I always drink – I think it would be a tad unfair to blame Ufomammut for that though. I have now spent some proper time on Opus Alter and I have been very well rewarded as a result.
‘Are you really a wizard?’, a female voice asks 8 minutes into the aptly named ‘Sublime’, I was shocked; these are the first discernible words, in English or Italian, I have ever heard on a Ufomammut LP, the sparse vocals are usually there for texture alone. This is a great track too, all spacey build up and atmosphere before a slow, marching, harsh riff kicks in that sounds like the sort of thing that Treebeard and his ents would groove to, weighty. All manner of instrumental freakery breaks out underneath the main guitar figure, which sounds more and more industrial^ with each repetition. Then everything calms down for a minute or two until the final track on the LP, ‘Deityrant’ which starts off impossibly heavy and ends up somewhere north of implausibly hefty, before lapsing back into static and calm again. It really is quite a thing to behold (behear? be-sperience?).
I knew that Oro translates into Italian as ‘gold’ and into Latin as ‘pray’ or ‘supplicate’ and that the themes of the LPs touch on both^^, but what I didn’t know was that Ufomammut conceived both the Oro LPs as a single track divided into 10 separate parts (each LP has 5 tracks). Much as it pains me to say it we’re bordering on prog metal here, which is fine and dandy when it hits as hard as the opener ‘Oroborus’ does. Then along comes ‘Luxon’ and just ups the heaviositynessiness exponentially, it just absolutely pulverizes me. All of which then fades to a moment of molten space, before ‘Sulphurdew’ slams in, sounding not unlike rockabilly played by a mountain range – the bass on this track is particularly brilliant.
As always there are some constants with Ufomammut. The playing throughout is awesome, never showy, everything subsumed within the whole ensemble. The cover art by Malleus is, again, brilliant – a kind of art nouveau from beyond a future grave. Opus Alter is a record of real substance and heft, musically and artistically – it’s the kind of thing I get a real kick out of owning and exploring time and time again.
So the next time you find yourself with the urge to, umm, aurally explore the surface of a deserted prison planet, picking your way carefully through the debris worrying about every last click, beep and clanging you can hear emanating from the levels below you then cue up Opus Alter.
684 Down (in the cargo hold).
PS: I have, today done the whole 10 part two LP one track thing. Wow.
*who, I’m sure very proudly, boast the twin accolades of being both my favourite Italian space stoner doom metal band and the inaugural winners of the 1537 LP of the year award with Oro: Opus Primum.
**henceforth to be referred to as Opus Alter, to save my sensitive little typing fingers.
^as in pertaining to the noises made by heavy manufacturing industry, rather than in the sense of shouty music made by shaven-headed Belgians.
^^as does last year’s mighty Ecate.
This is on the list, as well as Opus Primum. You’ve made me a fan of these guys. ‘Ecate’ was so damn good, and when I went back to check out the earlier albums both of these stood out. And I agree with you about the artwork. Absolutely stunning.
Who knew the Italians had it in ’em?
The two Oro albums are just incredible. They really are ploughing their own furrow here.
Are you really a wizard 1537?
No you don’t need to show me your wand. I’ll take your word for it.
Aww, go on!
Reminds me that I haven’t yet picked up their last album. Might just get on Discogs today. See if I can find this one also, cause I know I’m gonna dig this.
(Presses CTR-ALT-A to paste insincere apology)
Haha. Seriously, though, Ecate has been on my Amazon list for way too long. If I was choosing one of ’em, is it this or Ecate?
For a one off go Ecate, you’ll want both Oro LPs after that though!
Right. I’ll get on the ol’ information superhighway for a copy (no chance of any of the record stores here stocking it!)
No Italian doom metal section in your local HMV? Jings!
Shocking, eh? What kinda place is that? If there’s no Italian doom records hanging out there, it’s not the kinda place I want to hang out.
Where do u find this stuff? …Like a history lesson round these parts…
Wow. When I started reading this I knew nothing about this band. By the end, I wanted to own this record and probably others.
This, folks, is the power of 1537.
(Flexes muscles, makes ‘Boo Yah!’ type noises)
So modest, too.
It’s one of my 17 most outstanding qualities. True story.
“a kind of art nouveau from beyond a future grave” – Joe I appreciate how in each review, I find a new & articulate career aspiration – wouldn’t it be great if a student described one of my math lessons like that?!
Haha, you’d need to pull something pretty special out of the bag to have your maths described this.
Any album that name-checks the worm that bites its own tail is good by me.
Also really like the sound of rockabilly played by a mountain range (presumably one recently relocated from a planet to the hold of a mining ship).
This is a good illustration of the perils of giving disaffected youths too good a classical education.
More clueless than disaffected, but your point is well made. (Actually, I learned of the great snake via an pre-Tolkein fantasy classic by ER Eddison entitled ‘The Worm Ouroboros’ – 1922 )
I can feel the power of the dark side.
It’s calling you Mike. Give in.