Alcatraz Line up: 2018

The introduction of The Swamp last year has given us a lot more freedom in terms of billing and that is why we had the amazing Wolves in the Throne Room conclude the Swamp festivities on Saturday with an after show. The turnout was beyond expectations so we settled on Italian doom metal trio Ufomammut to repeat the experiment. Formed in 1999, they presented their impressive debut just one year later with ‘Godlike Snake’, a doom/sludge/psych/space effort that eats its way into your head like a particularly insistent ear worm with a wall of sound, pounding drums and trippy sounds from a korg synthesizer. Despite putting out above average albums Ufomammut remained primarily an underground secret until the release of ‘Eve’ (2010) and the double album ‘Oro’ (‘Opus Primum’ and ‘Opus Alter’) from 2012, bringing the more widespread recognition they deserve. Poia, Vita, Urlo & Co took a break from the uninterrupted cycle of touring before unleashing the acclaimed ‘Ecate’, a larger-than-life space doom recording that saw them consolidating their place at the top of the subgenre’s food chain. Their most recent effort, ‘8’, brings a slightly different approach with more emphasis on straightforward tracks instead of chaotic and intricate compositions but the new approach still works. Ufomammut are masters at writing crushing psychedelic sludge/doom tracks. A must-see!