Oof. Mammoth WVH<\/i> is an album that\u2019s heavy in more ways than one.<\/p>\n
First there\u2019s the context: Wolfgang Van Halen\u2019s debut solo album was born in the depths of sorrow surrounding his father Eddie Van Halen\u2019s final illness and eventual passing from cancer on October 6, 2020. That context seeps into every nook and cranny of this release, from the name of the band (Mammoth was Eddie and brother Alex\u2019s pre-Van Halen band, to whose name Wolf has added his initials), to track names like \u201cMr. Ed\u201d and \u201cMammoth,\u201d to the dedication: \u201cThis one\u2019s for you, Pop\u201d overlaid on a heartbreakingly sweet photo of a proud Eddie helping a teenaged Wolf work on his bass playing.<\/p>\n
Then there\u2019s the music itself. If you were looking for Van Halen Junior, keep looking. We\u2019re all products of our childhood environment, and Wolf grew up on \u201990s and \u201900s hard rock. The result is an album that bears more resemblance to Soundgarden or Foo Fighters than original VH\u2014except for the vocals. Vocally, Wolf is a dead ringer for his dad, reminding us that Eddie was the original lead singer of Van Halen and spent decades singing sweet harmonies in the band.<\/p>\n
And truthfully, the most amazing thing about this album\u2014besides the fact that Wolf composed, sang and played every note of it himself\u2014is how assured and confident a vocalist he is. You expect Eddie\u2019s son to know his way around guitar, bass and keyboards, and it\u2019s not a stretch to discover that Alex Van Halen\u2019s nephew and erstwhile rhythm section partner is a powerhouse behind the drum kit. But as a vocalist, Wolf is the best in his family, hands down.<\/p>\n
The music on Mammoth WVH is melodic hard rock, a description that some might apply to original VH, but Wolf paints with darker colors, forgoing Van Halen\u2019s playful, goofy side for a more serious, even earnest approach. That may in part be a reflection of the nature of these songs and the context they emerged from, but it may also just be what comes naturally for this next generation singer-songwriter. <\/p>\n
Opener \u201cMr. Ed\u201d is pure, hammering hard rock whose most notable elements are a decidedly EVH-style up-the-neck solo, and an in-your-face, confrontational lyric that, paired with the title, suggests that Wolf and Eddie\u2019s affectionate relationship may also have included some of the normal father-son tensions. (Sample: \u201cReally? \/ Now you\u2019re sorry? \/ Sadly \/ Always empty to me.\u201d). The next five songs\u2014\u201cHorribly Right,\u201d \u201cEpiphany,\u201d \u201cDon\u2019t Back Down,\u201d \u201cResolve\u201d and \u201cYou\u2019ll Be The One\u201d\u2014offer variations on the theme of dealing with conflict, all the while deploying the full bag of melodic hard rock tricks: blazing guitars, slamming drums, multitracked vocals and dramatic dropouts, with \u201cEpiphany\u201d adding a notably complex bridge.<\/p>\n
\u201cMammoth\u201d continues the heavy musical approach while digging deeper lyrically: \u201cNot okay \/
To blame yourself \/ And lay down and die like everybody else \/ Not okay \/ To just give up and walk away\u2026 Don\u2019t you know \/ There\u2019s so much more to live for?\u201d Only Wolf can truly say what the song is about, but it\u2019s hard not to hear parallels to the experiences of a songwriter whose father was dying of cancer around the time this track was written and recorded. <\/p>\n
\u201cCircles\u201d kicks off the second half with the first acoustic guitars heard here, leading a haunting power ballad that offers a brief respite before the fat guitars and drums return for the thundering \u201cThe Big Picture.\u201d Relationship song \u201cThink It Over\u201d pumps up the melodic side with a rather Gin Blossoms feel, before WVH dials up the decibels again. \u201cYou\u2019re To Blame\u201d locks in a bludgeoning riff with a hitch in it as Wolf rails about a very personal grudge of some kind. Maybe it\u2019s creative fiction, maybe it\u2019s about conflict with a friend or lover\u2014but there\u2019s still something eye-opening about hearing the son of a publicly self-destructive addict wail \u201cNo one but yourself to blame \/ Fought so hard but nothing\u2019s gonna change.\u201d<\/p>\n
The propulsive \u201cFeel\u201d digs deeper into WVH\u2019s bag of tricks with tricky time signature shifts, a complex arrangement, and a sweet, flashy breakdown\/buildup segment. It\u2019s not prog-metal, but it\u2019s not far from it, either. Thoughtful closer \u201cStone\u201d slows the tempo down for an airy opening, adding subtle keyboard accents and layering on more guitars as it builds to a crescendo. <\/p>\n
Bonus track \u201cDistance\u201d\u2014the one song here that feels like it\u2019s explicitly addressed to Wolf\u2019s father\u2014also finds him delivering his most heartfelt lyric: \u201cI\u2019m so happy \/ You\u2019ve found a place \/ That\u2019s better for you \/ Than this rock we\u2019re living on \/ I\u2019m so nervous \/ Don\u2019t know my place \/ A life without you \/ I\u2019m not ready to move on \/ No matter what the distance is I will be with you \/ No matter what the distance is you\u2019ll be okay.\u201d<\/p>\n
Are there times along the way where Mammoth WVH<\/i> starts to feel a little samey, all intense vocals and energetic riffing over a pummeling kick drum assault? Sure. It\u2019s also true that the lyrics sometimes feel underdeveloped, and the scarcity of musical elements other than heavy guitars, bass and drums seems like a missed opportunity. But these are quibbles in the context of the bigger picture: this is a remarkably powerful and accomplished debut album, completely composed and performed by Wolfgang Van Halen, and one that would make his father very, very proud.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":34457,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[10718],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-46297","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-mammoth-wvh","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/46297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46297"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/46297\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=46297"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=46297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}