Band:	Ufomammut
Album:	Hidden
Style:	Doom metal, Stoner metal
Release date:	May 2024

01. Crookhead
02. Kismet
03. Spidher
04. Mausoleum
05. Leeched
06. Soulost

Hidden marks 25 years of psychedelic stoner doom from Ufomammut, and they remain as thunderously heavy yet mesmerizingly astral as ever.

When they announced the start of a hiatus at the beginning of this decade, one couldn’t have realistically expected that Ufomammut would release two albums before the decade’s halfway point. However, it seems that the replacement of long-time drummer Vita with Levre has lit a fire under the three-piece, as first came Fenice in 2022 and now Hidden not long after. As intensely heavy as the band’s music can be, to the point that it borders on sludge (particularly when one looks at their earlier records), Fenice arguably focused more on their space rock and psychedelic inclinations. This time around, the trio perhaps re-emphasize their loudness.

As with Fenice, Hidden kicks off with a sprawling 10-minute song, and “Crookhead” has both thick, bruising distortion and swirling psychedelic electronica to get things moving; there’s something about this band locking into a weighty groove while shaping a trippy soundscape surrounding it that is inherently compelling and easily identifiable as coming from the group. Unlike the somewhat multifaceted “Duat” from Fenice, “Crookhead” stays with a single consistent mindset for the large majority of its runtime, with a mid-song fade-out used more as an opportunity to recharge rather than to veer off on a tangent.

After the heaviness of “Crookhead”, “Kismet” initially brings that space rock heritage into the equation, but soon Ufomammut return to dense distortion. The band’s vocal style is of a shouted variety, and it doesn’t overly lend itself to memorability, but a more up-tempo ‘chorus’ passage in this song is surprisingly hooky, driving forwards as barks ring out above; arguably the more memorable passage in the song, however, is a tasty detour midway through into quieter, trippy psychedelic sequence that escalates before dropping some monstruous heaviness onto listeners.

From this point onwards, there’s plenty more dirty, crushing fuzz; “Spidher” in particular has a sludgy nastiness to it. Still, there is some necessary ebb and flow in dynamics, and “Mausoleum”, the album’s longest song, is perhaps the best vessel for this, and the one that dedicates the greatest portion of its runtime to quieter, trippy space/psychedelic rock jamming. There are still outbursts of volume, but a lot of the track has shimmering, oscillating electronic sound textures that are driven excellently by Levre, who has slotted in very nicely behind the drumkit. As much as I enjoy Ufomammut at their loudest, it is this kind of expansive, eerie tonality that they inject into their softer sequences that really warms me to their approach.

As might be expected for a band with 25 years under their belt, Ufomammut don’t throw much in the way of curve balls on Hidden; if you’ve heard much from the band, this new album will feel very familiar. Still, if you find a winning formula and haven’t played it to death, there’s no harm in sticking to what you know works, and it does work once more on Hidden. It’s a record that slots nicely into their discography without necessarily setting it alight.