Wolfgang Van Halen‘s latest Mammoth album, The End, is out now. With the project’s third full-length studio effort, Wolf found that he “just threw more stuff at the wall.”
“I think you can hear that with [opener] ‘One of a Kind’ or even the title track where it was, like, ‘What if this one slow idea I had just kinda explodes and takes that motif to, like, a punky place?’ or ‘What if we opened this with a 40-second tapping intro that’s really epic?'” Wolf tells ABC Audio.
“It was just kinda try random stuff and see if it worked,” he continues. “I think a lot of it did, and that’s why this record, I feel, is a bit more elevated and comfortable.”
Lyrically, The End takes on an almost adversarial tone, with Wolf often expressing his feelings in contrast with an unnamed “you.” There are also repeated mentions of feelings including selfishness and trust.
All that adds up to what Wolf calls “the closest thing to a concept album without me really dedicating to it.”
“I think it all came from just the same headspace in telling those stories and exploring those feelings,” Wolf says. “I think that’s why it kind of does show up like a motif, just selfishness and what home is and who to believe and who not to believe.”
One thing Wolf certainly believes in is live music, and he’ll be taking Mammoth on a U.S. tour starting Friday in Rancho Mirage, California.
“As the record is an evolution, the show is gonna be an evolution, too,” Wolf says. “We’re investing a bit more into the show itself, we’re gonna have this, like, screen now, which is really crazy. It’s gonna be really exciting, I can’t wait to see it.”
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