MWWB – The Harvest
Release Date: 25th March 2022
Label: New Heavy Sounds
Bandcamp
Genre: Doom, Sludge, Psychedelic, Electronic.
FFO: Ghost, Acid King, Chelsea Wolfe, Electric Wizard.
Review By: Anthony Petitt
Back with a new name and new album, MWWB (formerly Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard) are set to release their fourth album, entitled The Harvest, on March 25th. Influenced by film soundtracks, the album is designed by the band to be listened to in full from front to back. The album features a unique format: it alternates between ambient synth interludes and heavy, doomy songs throughout its nine song track listing. Overall, the album features five interludes of five minutes or less each, and four doom-sounding songs, all longer than seven minutes.
Album opener Oblok Magellana sets the tone for the record with ominous synthesizers, and segues straight into the title track, The Harvest. The song opens with a grand apocalyptic feeling, which leads into a driving guitar riff that sounds like a slowed down, tuned down Megadeth guitar part. The vocals and synths somewhat overpower the rest of the band on this song, a problem which luckily doesn’t affect any other songs on the record. The song is book-ended by a monstrous outro riff worthy of inclusion on any Electric Wizard record.
Next up is Interstellar Wrecking, an interlude straight out of John Carpenter’s The Thing. Sonorous, vintage sounding synths lead the listener into Logic Bomb, a thunderous tune with a catchy chorus. The prominent bassline introduced in the second half of the song is a welcome addition, and something that the band shouldn’t shy away from on future releases.
Betrayal is a synth interlude with a dance beat, but doesn’t feel out of place on the album. It leads us into Altamira, which features some tasty lead guitar work. What follows is my favorite of the interludes Let’s Send These Bastards Whence, which features the uncommon time signature of 5/4 and a more jammy feel than the other interludes.
Harvest ends with the mellow, haunting Moonrise. My thoughts on ending the album with such a down-beat track are conflicted: on one hand, it feels somewhat underwhelming considering all the more enthralling interludes that came before, but on the other hand, with Moonrise the band is completing the story that their album tells exactly the way they want, and who am I to tell them how to complete their vision? Definitely give the record a listen and decide for yourself how you feel about how all of these clashing genres come together!
(4 / 5)
