It’s very difficult to pick only 10 albums that have been important for me and mostly, that have changed my life.
So, let’s try to find them in the maze of my mind, where the most important things are kept safe by my consciousness…
Meddle – Pink Floyd
This is the first album I bought in my life; I was a kid and I felt attracted like it was a magnet for my eyes. The strange “nose” on the front cover looked at me and I could resist. I remember the surprise when I opened the cover and I discovered this shape was just an ear underwater! I only listened to Meddle years after, and it’s become one of the essential soundtracks of my life.
Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols – Sex Pistols
I literally consumed this album. Sex Pistols changed the way I [saw] music when I was growing up. The power of their music was so savage and ravage, that it opened my mind a lot. Johnny Rotten was my hero and I think he’s one of the most peculiar voices in music. I’ve always thought that Ufomammut is a sort of psychedelic punk band, our attitude comes from punk and I must thank the Sex Pistols for that!
Lucifer Rising – Bobby Beausoleil
A real masterpiece. [Filmmaker] Kenneth Anger said no to Jimmy Page (one of my heroes with Led Zeppelin) and asked Bobby Beausoleil to write the Soundtrack for Lucifer Rising. The result is something you couldn’t believe has been written in prison. The evil atmosphere of the music is so pure it becomes magic.
The Beatles (The White Album) – The Beatles
I think about The White Album because the Beatles invented every kind of genre on this album (apart from the electronic/dance music they had already created with Tomorrow never Knows on Revolver). This double album is a compendium of pure genius. But honestly, every Beatles album is totally important for me!
Lysol – Melvins
When I listened to this album for the first time, I thought, “What the hell is that..?” Then I started to listen and listen to it, again and again, and it entered my brain like a drill. An incredible sound and a dark, evil atmosphere grow little by little until the end – and there are also some gems from Alice Cooper and Flipper. A record that is the transition between what was before and what will come after.
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The Fat Of The Land – The Prodigy
I could have put Far Beyond Driven by Pantera, but I chose The Prodigy, because they’re the heaviest band on Earth.
When I watched the videoclip of Firestarter for the first time, I thought they were going to change a lot of things in music (and what a fantastic haircut and presence of Keith Flint!). They’re the punk of electronic music, the best attitude in music and the best live I’ve ever seen in my life.
Ill Communication – Beastie Boys
Sabotage is one of the most incredible songs of all times. Everything is perfect in it. And this album is a crazy melting pot of styles and music. Rap and hip hop reached a new level and Beastie Boys rule forever!
Wolverine Blues - Entombed
Another album that blew my mind. The perfect alchemy of five Swedish guys putting their instruments together to create the best album of their career and changing everything in heavy music, breaking the rules and creating something that was going to influence tons of bands to come.
Volume One – Sleep
This album was a crazy masterpiece. Holy Mountain is surely one of my favourite albums of all times, but with Volume One, Sleep did something different. The songs are totally deconstructed, the singing is alienated, the drumming comes from another world… All of it is peculiar and unique. The painting of Dalì on the cover is the perfect representation of what you’re going to listen to.
Requiem – Mozart
Pure perfection, and an immense influence for me.
Ufomammut’s new album, 8, will be released on 22nd September via Neurot Recordings, and the band will be heading out on tour this autumn - check their official site for full dates and details.
The 10 records that changed my life, by Hey Colossus' Joe Thompson
