Plugging into the dark tradition of Italian psych and Prog Rock that includes Goblin and Antonius Rex… Mamuthones [is] the perfect blend of brute force and immaculayte timing. A work of formidable intensity Joe Stannard, The Wire
A massive ritual piece of startling originality. a hefty percussion top-heavy project somewhat reminiscent of Faust, Magical Power Mako, the Boredoms and even Choukoko No Niwa. This is a superb record. Julian Cope, www.headheritage.co.uk
Compellingly unsettling music that seems to pre-date history, yet also sounds thrillingly futuristic. Mayhem and Sunn O))) share Mamuthones’ interest in blurring the boundaries between the beautiful and the baleful…but the urgent, bouzouki-like guitar on Kash-O-Kashak marks them out as very much their own men. Sharon O’Connell, Uncut
[…]creates a mood of creeping terror with slow drum beats, ritual chants and organ melodies. Its singularity is absorbing, and commendable The Times, 25/2/2011, 4/5
Il folk esoterico del precedente Sator cede il posto ad un suono decisamente più corposo. […] il tocco cerimoniale è presente anche stavolta, facendo di Mamuthones il contraltare altrettanto esoterico e pagano, ma più psichedelico, della magica tribù di Ya Ho Wah. 7/8 Gino dal Soler, Blow Up, febbraio 2011, La Borsa della Spesa: SIB 7, dal Soler 7, Pardo 8, Collepiccolo 8
E’ musica dalle suggestioni estremamente arcaiche, fra minimalismo e psichedelia, colonne sonore dell’orrore e assortiti folk immaginari. Accesamente visionaria ed eminentemente percussiva, con sapienti inserti di chitarre e tastiere ad accentuare un senso pagano di sacralità. A chi scrive sono venuti in mente dei Popol Vuh malevoli, che si sentirebbe saggio di maneggiare con prudenza e cui invece si finisce per tornare ossessivamente. Stregati. Eddy Cilia, Il Mucchio 680, marzo 2011
Mamuthones is the project of Alessio Gastaldello, founder and ex drummer of Jennifer Gentle, Italy’s psych pop mavericks currently signed to Sub Pop Records. After leaving the band in 2007, Alessio, helped by different musicians, put out several albums under the Mamuthones moniker for Italian avant-garde labels like A Silent Place and Boring Machines.
The lineup of the band is now featured by 66 years old drummer Maurizio Boldrin, a local legend who since the Sixties has played in countless beat and prog groups including Pino Donaggio’s band (yes, the same Donaggio who wrote “You don’t have to say you love me” and soundtracked multiple Brian De Palma, Nicholas Roeg and Joe Dante movies) and Matteo Polato and Francesco Lovision from the Italian band Slumberwood.
The new album is part of the Collisions series, this is #4, of the English label Rocket Recordings (Goat, Teeth of the sea, Gnod, Lay Llamas…) and is a split album with Evil Blizzard.
The new songs are possessed of an upbeat and effervescent sound equally damaged by the dark alchemy of early Can, the sci-fi swagger of Chrome and the magpie spirit of Eno and Byrne’s ‘My Life In The Bush With Ghosts’.
Collisions 04 explores the ying and yang of an approach whereby overt post-punk and psychedelic influences meld with with esoteric vibrations and irreverent attitude, challenging bands, listener, and label alike in an intimidating and invigorating assault on the senses. Evil Blizzard and Mamuthones make for formidable opponents, in a demolition derby where the result is victory for all.
The Rocket Recordings Collisions series has thus far seen luminaries like The Heads, White Hills, Oneida, Mugstar, Shit & Shine and Gnod locking horns against each other on psychic voyages to bold dimensions anew.