If there’s one thing Wolfgang Van Halen has made clear since launching Mammoth WVH (Now known as Mammoth), it’s this: he isn’t chasing the past, he’s carving something of his own. From the moment he stepped into the spotlight, expectations followed.
With the release of The End, Mammoth delivers one of his boldest and most conceptually rich statements yet. It’s not just another single. It’s a tightly wound moment of clarity, a melodic exorcism, and the centrepiece of a short film that ropes in horror legends, guitar royalty, and the kind of mythology few modern rock bands dare to build anymore.
The End may sound like a conclusion, but for Mammoth, it feels like a whole new level.
The Evolution of Mammoth
While The End hasn’t been officially linked to an upcoming album, it clearly signals a new creative chapter. Wolfgang has called the track “a big step,” and it shows, in the writing, in the structure, and in the sheer ambition of what surrounds it.
Musically, it opens with a precision-engineered guitar tapping riff, something Wolfgang had been holding onto since before the first Mammoth album.
I’ve had the tapping idea on the intro for ‘The End’ since before Mammoth. I was able to fit it into this world. It’s still over-the-top and shreddy, but it’s also melodic and controlled. Overall, I was doing some different things on the record, and I knew this was going to be a big step. Once we finished ‘The End,’ it felt really special to me.
That phrase, melodic and controlled, might as well be the blueprint for the entire project. While Mammoth has always carried the DNA of classic hard rock, this is no nostalgia act. The End feels contemporary in the way it balances ferocity with restraint, but it’s the music video where the full scope of the song comes into view.
The End: A Short Film Disguised as a Music Video
Directed by cult film icon Robert Rodriguez (From Dusk Till Dawn, Sin City), the video for The End is a short horror film in disguise, a twisted homage to grindhouse cinema that plays out like a doomed tour diary from hell. The plot follows Mammoth as they roll up to a seedy desert bar for a gig. They’re given a very ominous warning from the club owner, played with glorious menace by Danny Trejo, to play ballads and to “keep it simple”.
Naturally, they don’t. What follows is pure, blood-splattered madness: the crowd turns into a swarm of vampires, werewolves, and zombies. Band members are torn apart. Chaos reigns. It’s Evil Dead meets Spinal Tap, and it works because it’s played straight, no wink, no irony. Just a band, in over their heads, facing absolute carnage.
And yet, it’s all tied to something deeper. There’s a twist in the final moments that links the video to a larger story arc from previous Mammoth visuals. Cameos from Slash, Myles Kennedy, and Wolfgang’s own mother, Valerie Bertinelli, add a meta layer, friends, family, and heroes all watching as Mammoth gets consumed by the night. Special effects by horror legend Greg Nicotero (The Walking Dead, Creepshow) seal the deal. This isn’t just a music video. It’s lore-building. It’s a universe, and it all stems from the emotional power of one track.
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The Meaning Behind Mammoth – The End
Despite the title, The End isn’t about surrender. It’s about presence. It’s about the surreal clarity that sometimes comes when everything is falling apart. There’s no flailing here, just a steady march into the unknown, hand in hand with someone you might not even trust anymore.
“Break me out of this / Here we are ignoring it / Take your hand in mine / And watch the end with me” — that chorus is the song’s emotional backbone. It’s not trying to fix anything. It’s just trying to feel something real as the final moments approach. That could be a breakup, a breakdown, or something more existential. The ambiguity makes it universal.
Elsewhere, Wolfgang paints in shadow and light. “No love / Bleeding out and bleeding over” speaks to emotional exhaustion. “Too proud / How I’ll never, how I’ll never know” hints at irreparable damage. But even as the verses spiral inward, the chorus expands outward, not with hope, but with grace.
And when Wolfgang said the finished track felt “really special” to him, it’s easy to understand why. The End feels like the work of an artist fully stepping into his own story, not inherited, but earned.
Mammoth – The End Lyrics In Full
Intro
(A Big One)
Verse 1
Wake up
Open up your dying eyes it’s
Way down
Burning out the tide
Fade out
All the laws around the noise and
Stand tall
Now is not the time for burning out
Chorus
Break me out of this
Here we are ignoring it
Take your hand in mine
And watch the end with me
Verse 2
No love
Bleeding out and bleeding over
No trust
Who are you to me?
True love
Floods through all the ins and outs you’re
Too proud
How I’ll never how I’ll never know
Chorus
Break me out of this
Here we are ignoring it
Take your hand in mine
And watch the end with me
Watch it end with me
Chorus
Break me out of this
Here we are ignoring it
Take your hand in mine
And watch the end and
Break me out of this
Here we are ignoring it
Take your hand in mine
And watch the end with me
An Apocalypse with Purpose
There’s a certain kind of artist who thrives under pressure, who creates not in spite of darkness, but because of it. Wolfgang Van Halen has never asked for the spotlight. But he’s learned to wield it, not just to showcase his own talent, but to craft songs that resonate deeply and widely.
The End might be the most cinematic moment in the Mammoth catalogue so far, not just because of its video, but because of the way it captures a feeling we’ve all known: standing at the edge of something, unable to change it, but not willing to turn away. It’s melodic. It’s controlled. And it hits like a gut punch wrapped in melody.
For Wolfgang Van Halen, The End isn’t about burning everything down. It’s about looking the fire in the face, and making damn sure the amps are still plugged in.
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