Mammoth - Another Celebration At The End Of The World

Oh man, here we go. Another rockstar with an ego bigger than the people he’s working with, right? Who does Wolfgang Van Halen think he is, naming his band Mammoth WVH, a clear reference to his own sickening self-centredness? Boy, what a piece of… okay, are all the elitist readers satisfied I’ve twisted the knife enough to have left? Good, glad to have the rest of you with me. I am not going to extend these particular dishonours to Wolfgang Van Halen for two good reasons. One, because he sensibly changed the name of the band to Mammoth (a nod to his father Eddie Van Halen’s first band, nice), and two, HE PLAYED ALL THE INSTRUMENTS AND WROTE ALL THE SONGS AND DID ALL THE SINGING. He could have changed the band name to WVH, and it would have been a sufficient name, given how much work he did making the music.

What hasn’t been insufficient at any point is the quality of the music being put out, either. WVH is a belter of a singer, songwriter and *insert most instruments here*, eschewing some of the glitzier elements of dear old dad in favour of a bit of heavy metal grit. That’s not to say there’s no resemblance to be found, though. WVH has an arsenal of more licks than a Tootsie-Roll Pop, and he knows how to use them, ripping up gaps in his own play with some seriously cool riffage. Not to mention (although I did previously and quite aggressively, on reflection), he’s playing the hell out of every single other instrument, too. He’s an insane talent – if you thought Eddie was a phenom, his boy might have beaten him out and in more positions at that.

There are rock songs that get you going, and there are rock songs that really get you going, and this falls so squarely into the latter camp, I’m struggling to concentrate on writing these words while trying to listen to it. Another Celebration at the End of the World is a bona fide rock classic in the making, a true showcase of WVH’s talents across the board and genuinely one of my favourite tracks of the last little while. It’s a Rock Song of the Week pick of the highest order, and it demands, nay, orders, that you enjoy it like you would a lover in your in the peak of your prime, fully, repeatedly and loudly.