Review by Szymon on November 3, 2017.

Pissed off mammoth is a dangerous mammoth. Pissed off Ufomammut is 8.

Eternally looped number eight expresses infinity. It is one of those numbers, which has been attributed variety of meanings for hundreds of years. It’s the symbol of eternal cosmic equilibrium, perfection, rebirth and finally - in some cultures - happiness. It was this symbolism that Ufomammut referred to with their eighth album, which brings, as it were, eight new songs. The expressive figure eighth on the cover of the disc is more akin to the alchemical symbol than the actual number, and promises something unique. An album that is worthwhile to get ‘looped in’ and give it a lot of precious time that is constantly limited by the abundance of other music premieres pouring out the vastness of the proverbial sleeve.

This time the band went on to record in a slightly different way, putting their money on the infrequently used nowadays naturalness. During the three days spent in the studio, the Italian trio recorded all material live, playing simultaneously in one room without any overdubs. Vocals and synths were added later. It's all clearly heard on 8. The sound is raw and decidedly less smoothed than it was presented previously.

What's more, 8 is a surprisingly aggressive album, vocally clamorous and downright brutal percussion-wise, which perfectly matches the dirtier sound. Ufomammut has not been playing so hard and straightforward probably since Idolum, and it is a deliberate attempt. A few days before the release of the album, I had the opportunity to exchange a few words with vocalist and bassist Urlo, who told me that this is a specific response to the recent activities of bands which soften musically with each subsequent release. Contrary to this trend, the Italians added more fuel to the fire, without forgetting about all characteristic to their art elements, especially the heaviness and the already mentioned, omnipresent electronics, which adds the essential cosmic aura to this album. In the end, there is no Ufomammut without cosmos.

It is this combination of aggression, dirt, trance and the electronic background that underlies the new material that decides that 8 is an album that is so successful. Having reached maturity this year, Ufomammut does not get short of breath and is still in great form, as is evidenced by the very beginning of the album. Italians didn’t show such vehement opening of the album as the combined "Babel", "Warsheep" and "Zodiac" (a feature of all the tracks on the album) in a long time. After all, the band does not  reveal all the cards immediately, holding the aces in their sleeve until the last minute of inviting to a interstellar  voyage "Psyrcle". Let's just say that furious "Core" could serve as an example. Whoever got the mammoth so pissed off must’ve regretted it very quickly. It's hard to talk about new quality, since the band does not even think about breaking up with long-established style, but it is a style in which the trio has achieved unquestionable championship in which they’re still able to develop creatively.

8 is not aggression only, but also quite a bit of space. Rather stifling and disturbing, but still space, variables and fading, which in turn determine the proper level of material dynamics and effectively protect against boredom. This also favors the varying length of compositions that fluctuate between three and eight minutes. At the end, the eight is a cosmic equilibrium, is not it? The album does not ‘open up’ to you right away, in which production prevents it slightly, but when it finally ‘clicks’ you really want to keep coming back to it and catch all the little touches and simply just ride the sound waves. The looped 8 in the title, when rotated to the side changes into infinity sign, which turns out to be very adequate to the contents of the disc. In the end, however, I have to disrupt this octal harmony, using an assessment that is not number eighth.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Review by Felix on July 9, 2019.

I had never heard of Architect of Disease until somebody sent me the file of this album. Okay, black metal is the second-best style in my personal sub-genre ranking. That's why I am familiar with this type of metal. With that said, I was of the opinion it would be no problem for me to write a review. However, it was much more difficult than I thought. To avoid misunderstandings right from the beginning, it was not problematic because of the material's quality. Architect of Disease, this becomes quickly obvious, do not lack passion, conviction and ambition. However, maybe it is exactly because of their ambitions that their approach sounds pretty extraordinary. Typical genre bands like Immortal, Marduk or Dark Funeral are great, but their songs can be inhaled easily, at least to a certain degree. Contrariwise, the members of Architect of Disease challenge the listener and sometimes it is not easy to follow them through the jungle of their compositions. So let's try to decode them step by step.

The songs do not suffer from incoherent patterns, by far not. But their bulky riffs and the somewhat progressive melody lines and sounds were obviously not created in order to ensure a smooth flow. Catchy parts like the beginning of "Illumination of Abyss" remain rare and due to whatever reason, in particular the opener is not easily accessible. Expressed differently, the songs are not predictable, and this fact forces me to stay curious during the entire album. Sometimes the compositions sound drug-imbued, a certain industrial touch also shows up from time to time. The pieces do not possess typical industrial elements, but the vigorous, gruesome and more or less unconventional voice does not sound like a black metal monster, but like an angry deus ex machina. By the way, this is probably one of the reasons why this album spreads some death metal vibes. I am not the greatest fan of this style, but Architect of Disease are competent enough to mix these sub genres cleverly. Finally, from time to time the dominating mid-paced tempo makes me think of rather slow-moving doom acts like Count Raven after having gone through storms of steel. 

Some songs grow with every new listening session. The guitar lines of "Cycle of Change", for example, reveal step by step a certain kinship with some typical Melechesh eruptions and that is, of course, a good thing. Yet there are also heavyweight monstrosities like "Eerie Glow" that are charming and somewhat abstruse at the same time. 30 years ago, I would have listened to such tracks a thousand times, but today I do not have the necessary luxury amount of leisure time to do so. Either way, most tracks reach a more than stable level, only "Everlasting Torment" lives up to its name involuntarily. But this does not affect the overall picture significantly. The Eerie Glow of Darkness is a well-produced album with a very resilient production - beware of the pumping bass - and compositions that do not lack substance and individuality. More open-minded freaks than me can add some percentage points.

Rating: 7 out of 10