It always warms my heart when a band I like that isn’t all that well known releases a second full-length album. Being in a band is hard! There’s no money in it, and in this current era of too many bands (I use this label not to suggest that there are more bands than there used to be, but simply to point out that more bands are able to mass distribute their music via online platforms), it is all but impossible to get noticed on a broad scale, even if your band totally slays. Even if you do break out in a meaningful way, there’s a non-zero chance you won’t be making enough scratch to quit your day job.
I became familiar with Welsh doom metal band Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard early in 2017, having come across their 2016 full-length release Y Proffwyd Dwyll. (Their album titles, as can be seen, are extremely fucking Welsh.) That album sounds like a ghost cult summoning you into the forest to join into their rituals, only to be consumed by recently unsealed eldritch monstrosities. It rules, and I spent the next couple of weeks afterward delving into its many secrets.
And then, a couple of years passed, and when I would think of the band, I would wonder if they’re still together, and if they’re ever gonna get another full-length out, because you never know. Much to my delight, the band released Yn Ol I Annwn this past Friday, and it is glorious. The droning riffs and clean but ethereal vocals of the debut have been augmented with keyboards and other sound effects, evoking the terrible emptiness of space, as opposed to more earthbound horrors. For anyone with even a passing, casual interest in doom/stoner/sludge, it comes highly recommended.
Rob Writes About Whatever 