Band:	Mastodon
Album:	Once More 'Round The Sun
Style:	Progressive stoner metal
Release date:	June 24, 2014
A review by:	R'Vannith

01. Tread Lightly
02. The Motherload
03. High Road
04. Once More 'Round The Sun
05. Chimes At Midnight
06. Asleep In The Deep [feat. Valient Himself & Ikey Owens]
07. Feast Your Eyes
08. Aunt Lisa [feat. The Coathangers & Gary Lindsey]
09. Ember City
10. Halloween
11. Diamond In The Witch House [feat. Scott Kelly]

A new album from Mastodon always promises fresh material, and the band dutifully oblige with the tantalising colour of their latest release. So here we go again, in riff raving fashion, Once More 'Round The Sun.

It's difficult to imagine stoner metal that lives up to the vividness of that album cover, but Mastodon are determined to deliver something uniquely their own as well pushing their sound somewhere new and just as attention seizing. The further they move away from the style of their sludge era, the more they embrace the tendencies of recent trends in progressive metal. This is especially the case on this effort, and while technical proficiency has always been their calling card, such operates as the core of Once More 'Round The Sun. Understandably, things get more than a little heated, with the expected trailblazing guitar work bringing in some sweet melodies and readily scoring an impression. It won't mention your name, but it'll leave your ears burning all the same.

The notion that the band has taken a "lighter" stylistic path over their most recent albums, and followed a more hard rock driven energy, does survive scrutiny here. Though this one isn't without their heavy and metallic tones coated in psychedelic colours, as well as the distinctive band-wide (plus guest) vocal force belting out lines that retains some of the hardcore edge to their sound. These tunes punch with the usual forward drive and rhythmic propulsion. The kit is lit and terrific drumming delivered as the nimble variations of Brann Dailor are scattered throughout, more than sure to please the listener with scintillating beats, all vibrating about the focused melodic song structures.

With melody reaching such a high point of emphasis on this album, they continue to work in close territory to Baroness without actually occupying the same soil. It's very much Mastodon's own turf, which contains heavier metal elements and is unrelenting in delivery as things move at a consistently swift rate from open to close. Variation to the pace is minimal and gives way to clear determination and assurance in a new direction, evidently the band have somewhere to be, somewhere to go and they'd see themselves and listeners there with a dynamic set of up-tempo numbers leading into the longer finale "Diamond In The Witch House." Running near to an hour, Once More 'Round The Sunmakes the passage of time taken to listen to it pass by with flowing ease of enjoyment.

"Renewal" might be the word some would use to describe this album, others perhaps opting for "change" or even "continuation," of all things good and distinctively Mastodon that is. Whatever the case may be, this album is sure material and another excellent effort from a band that continues to take stoner metal places in a way only they can.