A Single Book of Songs

Enclosed in a plain brown cardboard digipack, A Single Book of Songs certainly plays the minimalist hand, at least visually. The album, however, is a well-thought-out, well-constructed document of vast dynamic range, elegant mood shifts, and superb instrumentation. Naturally, Mammoth Volume still have made their appeals to the neo-stoner rock contingent with such a disc — that is, of course, their milieu. However, that type of volume density has been tempered here. Mammoth Volume have not contented themselves with the uncreative idolatry of ripping off Tony Iommi or Kyuss, but allowed themselves greater breadth to explore different musical textures and directions, like Jethro Tull or Pink Floyd before them. This disc often dips its ladle in some decidedly folksy, jazzy, even Eastern directions. Possibly the centerpiece of this band's catalog, certainly the most nuanced.