Eve

Eve
Cover of the original pressing.
Studio album by Ufomammut
Released	May 5 2010
Recorded	January 2010 at Locomotore Studio in Rome, Italy
Genre	Psychedelic Doom Metal, Experimental
Length	44:44
Label	Supernatural Cat
Producer	Ufomammut
Ufomammut chronology
Idolum (2008)	Eve (2010)	Oro: Opus Primum (2012)

Eve is the fifth studio album by the Italian psychedelic band Ufomammut. A five-part movement conceptualized on the bible's first woman, Eve would be released in May 2010 via Supernatural Cat. Eve would notably achieve critical acclaim and rank highly on several end-year lists, including Roadburn whom would invite the band to perform the entire album at the 2011 edition of Roadburn Festival.

History

Development on Eve would begin through 2009, leading up to the band recording the album in January 2010. Throughout a two month period the band would revisit early material and gain inspiration to do a concept album similar to Pink Floyd's Meddle though as the songwriting developed this "long song" became longer and longer, becoming the whole of the band's next full-length record. On 8 January 2010 the band announced the title and concept of their fifth studio album Eve. Consisting of one 45-minute atmospheric track, divided into five distinctive movements; it depicts Eve as a figure reminiscent of both Lucifer (in her rebellion against God) and Prometheus (in bringing knowledge to humanity). Eve would see a worldwide release on 5 May 2010 via Supernatural Cat, with some editions containing a visual DVD to compliment the album.

In an interview with The Obelisk, Urlo goes into details of the album's developments and creation:

“	“The first idea was to work on a record structured and inspired by “Meddle,” by Pink Floyd, so a long song and five shorter satellites. The only mistake has been to start working on the long song, and then, when we noticed it was growing longer and longer, we decided to work on only one piece. We split it in five movements to make it easy for the listening. And to be honest, even if with our previous albums we meshed one song into the other (I mean, there were songs but our albums always need a complete listening). We think this is the most focused of our career. Eve came out naturally, though. Even if there was a project, it was not a “real” one. Eve is what we need to do now. Before starting the working process of Eve, we listened to some old unpublished crap Poia and Urlo did with their previous band Judy Corda. We focused on one song called “∏” It was an instrumental song, very cool. It became the rough beginning and the end of Eve, we worked a lot around it to make it fit, but this was the beginning. Then every part grew one into the other naturally, like it was all written in our minds. It took about a couple of months to write Eve, when we entered the studio with Lorenzo Stecconi in Roma, it was clear what we wanted.”	”
	— Urlo, The Obelisk

The band would also notice several numeral coincidences with the record, along with symbolism the band tends to embrace, as indicated by an interview with Noisecreep: “We noticed there were some numbers occurring in Eve, some of them unintentional and strange coincidences. 'Eve' is the fifth album, a single song divided in five movements. The release date we chose for the album came 10 years after 'Godlike Snake,' our first record and if you take 5/5/2010, you'll have a lot of multiples off five. Day 5 plus Month 5=10, which is a decade, and 10 (5+5) + 10 (decade) = 20, which is the first two numbers of the millennium 2010. At the end, 20 is 4 times 5 and the song is 44':44, so 4 times 5. You can also consider that 'Eve' is three letters and it's a [44 minute and 44 second] long song. If you add the letters of Eve to the sum of the numbers of the timing, so 3 + 16 (4+4+4+4), You'll have 19 and 1+9 is again 10. If you do 5/5/2010 is 5+5+2+1=13 1+3=4; 4, again, is the number of the timing, 44':44'. Well, we could go on with these things for months.

We've buried the codes in our Death Valley, like Bobby Beausoleil did with the reels of "Lucifer Rising" soundtrack. We don't want to hide it, because it all came out naturally. We've always taken a lot of care about every aspect of our music: the sound, lyrics, artworks, the titles. We try to make them work together. This time, it seems that we've done a better job, intentionally and unintentionally. Sometimes we can control them to give shape to our thoughts. Other times, symbols acts like living things and move our actions in unconscious ways. We cannot reveal everything, because music is something undefined and mysterious and every listener can find his own "secret code".

Eve would be released via Supernatural Cat on 5 May 2010. Along with a CD version and a standard vinyl edition on Red Vinyl, there would also be a special edition containing a bonus DVD with visuals to compliment the audio experience, limited to 500 copies (400 Black, 100 Clear).

Eve would achieve critical acclaim upon it's release and could be seen as a breakthrough release for the band. A review via Angry Metal Guy would state that "Eve is more than just an album, it is an aural experience that all fans of well-produced, high-feedback stoner doom need to get their hands on!" and while praising the whole of the record, note that "the raw aggression of the third movement that eases up into a chilled, spacey groove in the following track is easily the stand-out moment of the entire piece.". Matthew Cooper of Your Last Rites would also elicit high praise, stating "Ufomammut have managed a 45-minute album consisting of a single song, and very few vocals (and mostly in the form of indistinct echoing roars), and yet is still able to captivate and continue to reveal its charms with multiple listens.". The Sleeping Shaman would open their review with the statement "Low and heavy riffs repeated to meltdown and mad electronic space noises – a sure-fire recipe for sustained cranial orgasm.", praising the artwork and the whole of the record as well. Other notable publications to review Eve at the time of release would be NME (4 Stars), AllMusic (4 Stars) and The Austin Chronicle (4 Stars).

"Eve" would also appear on a handful of year-end lists. It would be ranked #3 on Heavy Planet's Top 20 Albums of 2010. While it would rank #6 on The Obelisk's Top Albums of 2010, Eve would rank #1 on the site's reader poll. Lastly, Roadburn would cite "Eve" as "Album of The Year" in their reader's poll. On 13 January 2011 it would be announced that Ufomammut would perform the entirety of Eve at Roadburn Festival, ultimately performing on 16 April 2011 at the MIDI Theatre in Tilburg. Nearly ten years after the live performance, it would be released as a live album.

Tracklist

• 1. Eve Pt. I (14:02)
• 2. Eve Pt. II (9:45)
• 3. Eve Pt. III (3:04)
• 4. Eve Pt. IV (4:06)
• 5. Eve Pt. V (13:44)

Personnel

• Urlo - Bass, Synthesizers, FX, Vocals
• Poia - Guitars, Synthesizers
• Vita - Drums, Percussion, Synthesizers
• Simone Ravasi aka Ciccio - Live Soundlord
• Lorenzo Stecconi - Engineer, Additional Feedbacks
• Malleus - Layout, Artwork

External Links

• Eve on Ufomammut's Bandcamp
• Eve on Discogs
• Eve on YouTube