Ufomammut - Oro: Opus Primum

Published April 12 2012

*=Staff's pick	Empireum Aureum* Infearnatural Magickon Mindomine*

Genre	Doom Metal	Urlo	Vocals
Tracks	5	Poia	Guitar
Running time	51 Min.	-	Guitar
Label	Neurot Recordings	Urlo	Bass
Release	13 April 2012	Vita	Drums
Country	Italy	Urlo/Poia	Keyboard
Producer	Lorenzo Stecconi
Similar artists	YOB, Electric Wizard

Divided into two parts, Opus Primum is the first segment of the Oro series from Italian "space doom metal band" Ufomammut. The second part, Opus Alter, will be released in September and will complete the story that begins with Opus Primum. Furthermore, a DVD with a two-hour long visual installation will be released to complement the music, which delves into an epic story of alchemy which I can't even begin to describe. I'll illustrate the basic idea with an excerpt of the band's description of the album:

"Oro explores the concept of knowledge and its power; the magical stream controlled by the human mind to gain control of every single particle of the World surrounding us."

That's some pretty spaced-out stuff. The ambitious concept doesn't really shine through, though. It's not as if I would have thought to myself that this album sounds like an alchemic laboratory that culminates into the creation of gold if I hadn't read it beforehand. It's an interesting thing to think about when listening to it, however.

Describing the music is hard. The bone-crushing, sheer heaviness of the music contains psychedelic influences from bands such as Pink Floyd and Hawkwind along with sludge and drone metal passages that seem to almost hypnotize you along with the heavily distorted vocals. Opening track Empireum, which clocks in at nearly 14 minutes, slowly builds up a heavy mood which dives into sheer chaos during the second track, Aureum, which shows an impressive collection of brutal riffs. The diversity is less substantial in Infearnatural, with its static, grinding riffs alongside distorted chants, radio transmissions and eerie synthesizers.

Magickon is more of an ambient song with, initially, much focus on keyboards and little on the guitar. It gives you a well-needed break before escalating into a violent climax. The final track Mindomine builds up the music, twists it and turns it, lowers the tempo and increases the tempo before finally ending in a fading wall of distortion and echoes.

Oro is a remarkable project and Opus Primum is definitely an interesting album, although it's a very dense musical experience that craves a lot of attention from the listener. I'll keep listening to it but maybe I need to wait for the second half of the album to fully appreciate it as this is in a way just half a review. If you like your music fast, this is not something for you. If you like your music heavier than a mountain of concrete, however, then check out the Youtube link below which contains the video to Empireum. "Psychedelic" doesn't even begin to describe it.

Performance	Originality	Production	Vocals	Songwriting
7	9	7	5,5	6

Summary
6,5 chalices of 10 - Bjorn