Written by Ilham on 03.07.2014 at 18:45

I have a complicated relationship with Mastodon. But this one just blew me away.

I still adore you... but in the non-creepy kind of adoration way...

Written by Guest on 04.07.2014 at 12:37

I still adore you... but in the non-creepy kind of adoration way...

Hey, people say there's no bad publicity. I'm sure there's no bad adoration either. You may go on.

I like this! Only thing I actually disliked is that "hey ho" part in Aunt Lisa, else it was nice, bought it

Written by Fallen Ghost on 04.07.2014 at 16:07
I like this! Only thing I actually disliked is that "hey ho" part in Aunt Lisa, else it was nice, bought it

This doesn't do a great job of explaining why they chose to include that, but it's something.

"Aunt Lisa" is a song about Dailor's own aunt, who passed away from Leukemia. Hinds wrote the music to Dailor's lyrics, and it turned into "the craziest song on the record," befitting Lisa's joie de vivre. "Everybody knew her and all the stories, so the song is Brent's personality, but it's Aunt Lisa's personality too. Some things are heavily masked and metaphored, some are thinly veiled." (Sauce)

I'm assuming in some way that kind seemingly out-of-place quirkiness is their way of paying homage to her personality.

Written by Troy Killjoy on 04.07.2014 at 17:51

Written by Fallen Ghost on 04.07.2014 at 16:07
I like this! Only thing I actually disliked is that "hey ho" part in Aunt Lisa, else it was nice, bought it

This doesn't do a great job of explaining why they chose to include that, but it's something.

"Aunt Lisa" is a song about Dailor's own aunt, who passed away from Leukemia. Hinds wrote the music to Dailor's lyrics, and it turned into "the craziest song on the record," befitting Lisa's joie de vivre. "Everybody knew her and all the stories, so the song is Brent's personality, but it's Aunt Lisa's personality too. Some things are heavily masked and metaphored, some are thinly veiled." (Sauce)

I'm assuming in some way that kind seemingly out-of-place quirkiness is their way of paying homage to her personality.

Awesome, thanks for the info!

Really like all of the positive feedback this is getting. Glad to see i'm not the only one who thinks Mastodon are still awesome

Just finished listening to this, and it is an awesome album. It manages to do a very difficult thing, which is to be catchy, and hooky, whilst also managing to be very obtuse and adventurous at times. Unlike many bands, these guys just seem to keep getting better the older they get! The songcraft on this album is just wonderful, and captivating. Amazing stuff.

Written by Troy Killjoy on 04.07.2014 at 17:51

Written by Fallen Ghost on 04.07.2014 at 16:07
I like this! Only thing I actually disliked is that "hey ho" part in Aunt Lisa, else it was nice, bought it

This doesn't do a great job of explaining why they chose to include that, but it's something.

"Aunt Lisa" is a song about Dailor's own aunt, who passed away from Leukemia. Hinds wrote the music to Dailor's lyrics, and it turned into "the craziest song on the record," befitting Lisa's joie de vivre. "Everybody knew her and all the stories, so the song is Brent's personality, but it's Aunt Lisa's personality too. Some things are heavily masked and metaphored, some are thinly veiled." (Sauce)

I'm assuming in some way that kind seemingly out-of-place quirkiness is their way of paying homage to her personality.

So what song from Mastodon's recent albums ISN'T a tribute to some dead relative of one of the members?

Written by Fallen Ghost on 04.07.2014 at 16:07

I like this! Only thing I actually disliked is that "hey ho" part in Aunt Lisa, else it was nice, bought it

I gotta change my mind on this, I actually like that part now, hah!

I like that they can groove and also blend a lot of shades into the sound. The vintage + modern mix they have is really good.

Excellent like all the rest of the discography, awesome live performing - Crack in the Sky forever =)

A couple of listens through and I'm very impressed with this album. I agree with Angelic Storm that these guys are getting better the older they get. I know there are those that say their early albums are their best but I'm not in that camp. I was a huge fan of Crack the Skye but for me that album took the prog element to it's conclusion and I was happy that The Hunter was a bit more fun. This album feels a bit like a middle ground between those two albums. Some very catchy songs and riffs but still some complex and proggy sounding songs.

Some of the things I like about this album and band: three quarters of the band do lead vocals and alternate it around - it gives a varied sound to the songs. Plus this album has the usual vocal appearance of Scott Kelly. And I'm stoked that Brann is doing more lead vocals here, as I like his voice the most. I suspect it must be difficult for him to do much lead vocals when they play live, considering his frenetic drumming style, which must take a lot of energy. From seeing them play three times, I've always felt that live vocals is their weakness. I've read that they once had a singer in the band and after he left, instead of getting a new lead singer they just took it on amongst themselves - that seems about right. Brann's drumming - he manages to lay down some cool grooves but to keep that trademark style of his of lots of tom and snare fills. And the guitars - so many cool, heavy, catchy riffs and I've always really enjoyed Brent's lead guitar solos. Artwork and song titles - another really cool album cover and their song titles are always interesting to me. Rating pending but it will either be an 8 or 9.

Deserves a strong powerful 9. This album feels like a new material with a strong Mastodon vibe, that's one of the best combinations you can accomplish when you already released quite a few albums. I think they tried to improve upon The Hunter as well. It's kind of a grower, you need to give it a few listens and it will reward you very well. Way to go guys

Not sure how I feel about this album yet. It's pretty obvious now that they'll most likely never again make another album of the same level of quality as Remission or Leviathan, which were masterpieces both. Still, I really liked Crack the Skye, which I considered a better album than Blood Mountain, so maybe they'll surprise me one day.

This one isn't better than Crack the Skye, but it's definitely better than the Hunter, and maybe even better than Blood Mountain. Still need time to take it in so I know how I really feel about it, but I think they did a good job.

Written by Jaeryd on 17.07.2014 at 07:46
It's pretty obvious now that they'll most likely never again make another album of the same level of quality as Remission or Leviathan...

How can you compare quality between albums that are so far apart stylistically?

I would say it's pretty obvious now that they'll most likely never make another album like Remission or Leviathan because they're done with that and have clearly moved on, as demonstrated by the albums they've released since. If these guys wanted to re-write Remission and Leviathan for the next 20 years and wow us with their consistency (or bore us with their repetitiveness) then I'm sure they would have.

I dunno, some of this stuff is just so catchy that it gets stuck in my head like a pop song and I can't get rid of it and then I start hating it. Still love it but maybe loving it too much, if that makes sense.

Written by deadone on 17.07.2014 at 09:38

Written by Troy Killjoy on 17.07.2014 at 09:07

I would say it's pretty obvious now that they'll most likely never make another album like Remission or Leviathan because they're done with that and have clearly moved on

But we know some of the fans never move on. Personally I've figured if I squint so hard my eyes are shut when looking at the date, it's 1992 again .

I'm not asking them to remake the same album. It's perfectly fine for a band to change their sound--in fact, it's almost irritating when a band keeps releasing the same shit over and over again.

The thing is, I'm not talking about the same style or sound, but the level of quality. Again, Crack the Skye was awesome. It was almost as good as their first two, but sounded completely different. I'm all for a change in sound, I'm just saying that I don't think they'll make something that affects me as much as a listen through Remission or Leviathan does. This album and The Hunter haven't even gotten close.

Written by Troy Killjoy on 17.07.2014 at 09:07

Written by Jaeryd on 17.07.2014 at 07:46
It's pretty obvious now that they'll most likely never again make another album of the same level of quality as Remission or Leviathan...

How can you compare quality between albums that are so far apart stylistically?

See my comment above. It was actually directed towards you, but I accidentally quoted the wrong person.

Also, I can compare things that are so different stylistically the same way people can say "I think that Mastodon makes more interesting music than Gojira." It's not about sounding the same, it's about one completely different thing sounding just as good as (or better/worse than) another completely different thing. Like how I like John Coltrane's "Blue Train" album just about as much as I like Rainbow's "Rising" album, or something to that effect.

I saw the mouuuuuuuntaaaain cruuuuuuumble doooooooooown

Great album, made me want to listen more from a band I've been overlooking for years, not sure why.

I've never really been a huge Mastodon guy but this album really got me going. I dig.

Written by deadone on 11.07.2014 at 06:54

Oh yes I'll disagree. Nothing beats those albums for sheer demented aggression.

But as a band Mastodon have not got worse - they've just changed. I'm noticing a trend that for many it's either the old stuff or the new stuff.

I actually completely agree with you here. While I personally prefer their earliest two albums to anything else they've done, Crack the Skye and OM'RtS have there place in time where all I want to do is jam out to The Last Baron, or now The Motherload

Written by deadone on 12.08.2014 at 08:58

EDIT: Additionally sometimes this album makes me think of a wierder Sloug Feg.

The Lord Weirder Slough Feg?
Hehe.
...
...
I should kill myself.

I honestly thought that they would have ran out of steam by now.
Great album.

Written by Butters49 on 11.09.2014 at 04:54

I honestly thought that they would have ran out of steam by now.
Great album.

Kinda how I thought this album was going to sound, but I was surprised, it's really good.

For years I could never get into Mastodon, but recently I revisited their discography and all their material has grown on me. This album is no exception. Solid, catchy, and decidedly more straight forward than their earlier releases.

I... just don't feel it. There wasn't anything particularly bad about this, but nothing really impressed me either. I was just sitting around, waiting for something to happen.

Written by Ace Frawley on 17.07.2014 at 10:43

I dunno, some of this stuff is just so catchy that it gets stuck in my head like a pop song and I can't get rid of it and then I start hating it. Still love it but maybe loving it too much, if that makes sense.

i feel you completely
go lsten to the new at the gates album
its one of the best of the century
this album is top 5 of the year and altogether a masterpiece cant say its not well made.

Even tho I can understand there is a lot of technique and creativity inside this record, it doesn't "get" me.
So far it is the less interesting release from Mastodon, but it could be that with time I will change my mind, I had just a few listenings...

Yeah, definitely better than the Hunter. Better than Blood Mountain, too (I never really liked Blood Mountain that much). Really solid album. Glad I got to see them play some of these tracks live.