Review Summary: I am a false prophet, God is a superstition.
I've sat on Mammon's
Demiurge for a while now. It's not because the demo is bad, in fact, it's quite the contrary - the three songs on this Canberra based band's first demo are all very excellent and have simply needed a little contemplation to properly write about. There is an immediate depth to
Demiurge's composition, and as I will shortly explain, the demo's concept runs just as deep.
It's hard to pinpoint Mammon's style of music. If I were to make a very broad categorisation, I'd say post-metal. However, this does not sound anything like what post-metal commonly sounds like, e.g.
Neurosis,
Isis,
Cult of Luna,
Rosetta, whatever. There is a greater emphasis on sludge here, but I refrain from simply calling it sludge because there are progressive elements beneath the rawness. The beginning of 'II', for example, is black metal through and through, but it does not sound out of place at all - Mammon blend in the fusion of styles articulately, and so deviations from their usual sound fit in with the overall feel of the record. This also goes for the slight hardcore-y feel of the demo too - 'III' sounds very much like any European emotional hardcore group, with an almost post-rock inspired screamo template, or you could even describe it as having a little neo-crust influence, with its dark and numbing mood.
While the music itself is well-written and executed flawlessly, a great deal of thought has gone behind its concept - this concept of course encapsulates the demo, but it's also a pivotal part of the band itself, so future releases will possibly be further extensions of this concept. This concept, put simply, is opposition to religion. In the words of the band, 'as a band we believe that revealed religion (and, to a large extent, all religion) represents the ultimate personifcation of fascism, that it is exploitative, deceptive and inherently a force for evil, due to its advocacy of the master-slave relationship (the essence of abjection) and its promulgation of immoral and ultimately harmful teachings'. They strongly encourage and advocate naturalism as a framework for morality, which is something that I can definitely relate to, as I'm sure most of you can too. This concept follows through the band's music and lyrics, and also extends to their artwork, which you can see above.
The artwork was done by Jacob Rolfe, a Melbourne based artist who is familiar with members of Mammon. His depiction of a snake intertwined with a burning church sits very resolutely alongside the demo's concept - 'the lyrics on
Demiurge express revealed religion as the 'Demiurge' [in other worse, the creator], personified as a snake (a creature typically chosen to represent evil), and argue against the intrusion of this immoral institution into our lives'. You can view Rolfe's work here - http://www.jacobrolfe.com/
Not only as an integration of creativity and concept, but simply as a rocking piece of music, Mammon simply succeeds. It's obvious that the band have an enormous amount of talent, and as good as
Demiurge is, I feel that a lot of this talent is still untapped. This release is highly recommended, and any subsequent releases from Mammon will be undoubtedly excellent. Although providing the demo as an mp3 release for all of you to download, Mammon have also said that they would be willing to send a free copy of their CD to you, provided the shipping isn't ridiculous. If you're situated in Australia, get onto this. Otherwise, feel free to simply download the rip. The band is currently working on an EP which is due for recording in the next couple of months. Keep an eye out.
