In choosing their native word for “phoenix” to title their ninth album, Italian psych sorcerers Ufomammut are commenting on their own rebirth. “We chose that title because we went through difficult times at the beginning of 2020, when our drummer left the band,” guitarist and keyboardist Poia tells Apple Music. “We had played together for more than 20 years, so we were thinking about stopping for a while. Then, suddenly, the pandemic happened, and everything stopped. So, it was a strange period.” Luckily, Ufomammut emerged with new drummer Levre—and the six-track, 38-minute opus Fenice. “We wanted to pick a less obvious word than ‘phoenix,’ but in the end, we decided to keep it because it just seemed natural,” Poia says. Loosely rooted in concepts from Egyptian mythology, the album is meant to be listened to as one continuous piece. “We broke it into fragments to make it easier to digest,” Poia confirms. “But it is designed as a whole.” Below, he comments on each track. “Duat” “Duat is the Egyptian world of the dead. This album opens in an unexpected way for Ufomammut because it starts with those synth sounds and that electronic feeling coming from nowhere. We wanted to introduce the standard instruments little by little, to create a fusion between these two elements—the electronic part and the human part. With this new lineup, we had the chance to experiment with different ways of playing. I think this is not a very Ufomammut style song, but it feels very natural.” “Kepherer” “The kepherer is the scarab in Egyptian mythology. This is another more electronic-oriented piece in which we explore this part of Ufomammut. This sound is coming more to the surface of the music than in the past. So, this part is not played with real instruments, let’s say. Not played by humans but played by this entity that is Ufomammut coming to life again.” “Psychostasia” “The psychostasia is the scale that weighs the souls of man to find out if they’ve been good or not. This is more like the usual Ufomammut but with new parts. It’s very soft at the beginning, with repetitive noises in the background coming in little by little. This song is more like the old Ufomammut that is still alive and coming out in this new way.” “Metamorphoenix” “This is the original core of Fenice, the piece the entire album was built from. The title is a mixture of two words, of course, and very clear. It explains this idea of rebirth but also of change because we are saying that we are starting from zero and rising again. But this is not possible because we still have a story, and our story is built from choices we made in the past. Of course, nothing can be done from zero because we climb on the shoulders of giants, as we say, because all of our influences of the past are still present.” “Pyramind” “Again, this is a new word that refers to Egyptian mythology. The mind is, of course, our brain, our concepts and ideas. And this is a very Ufomammut style explosion. Personally, one of my favorite moments is when ‘Metamorphoenix’ is transforming into ‘Pyramind.’ This is very liberating to play. Next week, we will play our first gig with the new lineup, and I hope this change will be appreciated by listeners.” “Empyros” “This is something unexpected because it’s a very sudden switch from the previous song. Everything is more on fire, more urgent, with very quick changes. The main riff is changing while the tempo is changing and transforming until the end of the record—all very fast. We didn’t want to develop a flow as much—we just wanted it to be very urgent. So, in very few changes, everything is finished, like an explosion in the sky. Everything is gone. We have left the earth for new adventures.”