However, the project’s self-titled debut album, which lands this week, could not be further from the vigour and exuberance that defined the now-inactive family band.Ī gritty hard rock collection, Mammoth WVH was shaped more by Nineties icons like the Foo Fighters and Nine Inch Nails than early genre pioneers an anthem like Horribly Right, which screeches to life before launching into a down-tuned groove heavy enough for Load-era Metallica, makes that abundantly clear.
The pseudonym isn’t a play for anonymity, rather a subtle continuation of the Van Halen legacy (Mammoth was a band name Eddie, Alex and singer Roth briefly used in 1974). Now, to both honour his father and forge his own path, the youngest Van Halen is embarking upon a solo career under the moniker of Mammoth WVH. The lineup extended Van Halen’s livelihood for more than a decade, only stopping when their guitarist lost his life to cancer in October 2020. It was also Wolfgang who returned Seventies-era megastar David Lee Roth to the fold. His decision to play bass for his dad and uncle Alex’s band, Van Halen, at just 15 years old reignited the aging virtuosos.
Yet, the only son of guitar god Eddie Van Halen and actress Valerie Bertinelli, Wolfgang has never been one to let his lineage do the work for him. How hard must it be to build your own legacy as a rock star when you’re called “Wolfgang Van Halen”? Sharing a first name with the greatest classical composer of all time would be bad enough by itself.
0 kommentar(er)
