Wolfgang Van Halen’s band Mammoth WVH have just unveiled the year’s greatest album cover.
The cover of their upcoming debut album, cryptically-titled Mammoth WVH, features a painting of a giant crab attaching a downtown parking lot while a guy in a business suit looks on.
The image could be an allegory for the rampaging spread of the Covid-19 virus or it could be a metaphor for mankind’s destruction of the natural world. Or it could just be a really cool painting of a giant crustacean crushing a car. Hey, your guess is as good as ours.
Either way, the album itself is going to have to work hard to match up to its cover. Mammoth WVH is released on June 11, and features 14 tracks including debut single Distance – a tribute to Wolfgang’s late father Eddie Van Halen.
Bassist-turned-guitarist/vocalist Wolfgang recently tangled with British prog overlord Steven Wilson, after the former Porcupine Tree frontman admitted that Van Halen Sr’s death left him unmoved.
Wilson told FaceCulture: “Honestly, it didn't, because I was never a fan. I know he's an extraordinary musician, and it's always sad when an extraordinary artist dies, I was never a fan of the so-called shredder mentality. And I think in many ways, he was the father of that whole kind of movement.”
Wolfgang expressed his disappointment in a tweet: “Damn this bums me out hard. Been a huge fan of his for years. [Porcupine Tree's] Deadwing is one of my favorite albums of all time.”
Wilson responded with his own post: "Dear @WolfVanHalen, apologies, no disrespect was meant to your father, an extraordinary musician.
"I personally never owned any @VanHalen records and didn't ever get into the style of playing, but he was clearly an incredible innovator."So when asked about his passing I couldn't honestly say I was affected deeply by it, at least not in the way that my heroes Bowie or Prince's passing had affected me.
"This statement was given in honest humility. Forgive me for any offence unintentionally given, and I offer my deepest condolences."
Proving there is such a thing as a happy ending, Van Halen de-escalated tensions: "Incredibly kind of you to say, @StevenWilsonHQ. I meant no ill will in my previous tweets. As I said, the internet was exacerbating what you had said, as the internet tends to do. Still very kind of you. Be well, friend.”
Mammoth WVH tracklisting:
1. Mr. Ed
2. Horribly Right
3. Epiphany
4. Don’t Back Down
5. Resolve
6. You’ll Be The One
7. Mammoth
8. Circles
9. The Big Picture
10. Think It Over
11. You’re To Blame
12. Feel
13. Stone
14. Distance (Bonus Track)
