Beardfish – Mammoth (2011)

Keeping the flame alive of bands like YES and King Crimson, today we have Beardfish and their excellent release “Mammoth”. Being the sixth album under their belt, “Mammoth” moves forward with their super catchy and authentic old-school influenced sound. As you know from the band’s previous release, their sound is very listener friendly and excellently crafted.

Opening with “The Platform”, the band nicely shows their experience in crafting very engaging sounds that have both technical proficiency and catchy melodies. This song keeps getting better and better as it progresses. “And the Stone Said” in our opinion is the best track in this album. Clocking around 15 minutes, this epic song features very catchy melodies and great keyboard and guitar solos.

A thing to highlight is that vocalist Rikard Sjöblom knows exactly his range and never gets overly whiny or tries to over do it, allowing his vocals to fit very nicely into the mellow mood of the music. “Green Waves” has some of the ‘hardest’ elements in this album and provides a nice change of pace in the middle of this album, never being out of the scope of the band’s sound.

The guitar, keyboard and bass guitar work in the song “Akakabotu” is greatly contrasted by the jazzy use of the sax; this also creates a very mellow song and a very intoxicating atmosphere. Closing this release we have “Without Saying Anything”, in this track the piano sections are excellent and the closing moments are just magical.

 If you are into Progressive Rock from the 70’s, this release is just perfect for you. All members of the band excel in using their instruments masterfully and craft very intricate and enjoyable songs. “Mammoth” is a very high quality release that should be enjoyed by any Progressive Rock fan.

Release: March 28th, 2011

Country: Sweden