Album #336: Slift – Ummon

• Released: 2020
• Origin: Toulouse, France
• Label: Stolen Body
• Best Track: Lions, Tigers and Bears

Quite a few people’s ‘Album of 2020’ lists are starting to surface now, and I’ve seen this somewhat obscure French record crop up on one or two of them.

Released in February and weighing in at a hefty 72 minutes, Slift’s second album Ummon is pretty epic. I’m not sure what you call this – post-rock, post-metal? – but the prog and psychedelic elements certainly add to its aura and make for a distinctive LP.

I’d recommend the first and last track if you have time for nothing else. The guitars crunch and crash on the title track opener, while closer ‘Lions, Tigers and Bears’ is a 13-minute wonder that teams up the playfulness of King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard with the theatrics of acts like Iron Maiden.

I don’t find it easy to give this sort of music my undivided attention, but it’s adventurous, meticulously put-together and I can fully understand why someone would love it.