Mammal
The Majority
Shock


The intensity of Mammal's live performances and a relentless touring schedule have earned them a lot of fans; the question is whether a band built on the interplay of an audience can translate their energy to the studio.

Mammal have chosen not to record the old favourites here, working with producer Eric Sarafin (Ben Harper, Spearhead) on almost all new tunes. The sound is much cleaner than expected, pushing the dynamic of vocalist Ezekiel Ox as political front-man rather than Mammal as an all out rock band. Not surprising given their hiring of Sarafin, but a definite change in musical direction with some of their new material.

The half spoken lyrics and heavy, funked up instrumentation deliver a punch akin to Danko Jones or Rage Against The Machine when they're tearing it up on tracks like The Majority, and the chaotic energy is well captured here. As the intensity pulls back on the more hip-hop oriented Burn Out, though, they find themselves in new territory. The sharpness of the vocal attack still comes across well, Ox in good form throughout, but without the fierce elemental band dynamic the blow is certainly softened. At the tail end of the album there's more sonic experimentation, with longer sound-scape intros on Zero Infinity and Living In Sin that set the scene and change things up, but never quite achieve the fullness of sound that the chaos of a live setting delivers. Though they seem to be figuring out how to get comfortable in the studio this is still an impressive debut.

Aaron Farrant