Mastodon

[Pandabear 414]

Mastodon is an American metal band from Atlanta, Georgia, formed in 1999. The band comprises bassist/vocalist Troy Sanders, guitarist/vocalist Brent Hinds, guitarist Bill Kelliher and drummer Brann Dailor. They have released four full-length albums to date, expanding their musical borders from early raw sludge riffs to later psychedelic multi-layered songs, yet maintaining progressive style with unusual time signatures and odd instrumentation.

Mastodon - Oblivion

(Linked because record companies are being bitches and won't allow embedding of their artists music videos, or their playback on sites other than youtube.)

The definition of an EPIC band in my opinion. I highly recommend Crack The Skye. It was one of the best progressive metal/album of 09, and now one of my fav albums of all times. When I first listened to it, it totally blew my mind away. The technicality, and instrumental arrangement of the songs are godly. Their early work is just as awesome.

[Vurtox 3]

dey r kwl. I played the fuck out of Crack The Skye when I got it on vinyl

Through listening to this band I found out about The Ocean, who are somewhat similar and just as kick ass.

[Neon 6]

I have Crack The Skye and I have a see them playing live to

[Pandabear 414]

dey r kwl. I played the fuck out of Crack The Skye when I got it on vinyl

Through listening to this band I found out about The Ocean, who are somewhat similar and just as kick ass.

I def need to check out the ocean then.

Just bought Mastodon's live DVD - Live At The Aragon. It's got the entire performance of Crack The Skye plus a few others.

They're working on their new album so I'm also excited about that.

[Guest]

Their early Progressive Sludge-ish stuff, up and until "Leviathan", are really good. But when they dropped their sludgy riffs and went all Technical/Progressive Groove Metal they started to suck. "Blood Mountain" is listenable, but not good enough for me to listen to more than once every second year. "Crack the Skye" is just embarrassing and bad. Really, really bad. But "Leviathan" is really damn good, and "Remission" is way, way better than "Leviathan" again. "Remission" is something like a semi-classic album.

Saw them live in 05 or something, though, and it was really good. That was before I had even heard their stuff, but I really enjoyed the concert. Nowdays I assume they play too much new stuff for me to be able to enjoy it. But back then - WOAH!

[Pandabear 414]

New artwork, and tracks reveled for their upcoming album.

In an interview with MTV Germany, it was revealed that the new album will be called The Hunter in honor of Brent Hinds's brother who unexpectedly passed away while hunting during the making of the album. Speaking to AOL's Noisecreep, drummer Brann Dailor described the new material as not so much proggy as riff-oriented and "a little more stripped down," akin to that of Leviathan (2004) and "like a really super-heavy Led Zeppelin or something." Asked if Brent Hinds is again responsible for most of the initial songwriting, Dailor replied, "I think it's a little more collaborative, with everyone chipping in."

Confirmed Tracks:

Blasteroids

The Octopus Has No Friends

Stargasm

Curl of the Burl

All the Heavy Lifting

The Sparrow

The Ruiner

Dry Bone Valley

They also released a music video for a song called Deathbound. The song does remind me of older mastodon. And LOL at the Mr.Roger reference and the puppet genocide.

Deathbound -

[Karma’s Hat 3107]

Sounds good on paper, but i wonder if they can make it as good as Leviathan and Remission were. Well after Crack the skye can't blame me for being a little skeptical. I listened to Deathbound once some time ago, but the quality was so crappy i couldn't make anything out of it, but i might as well not listen to it now and just wait for the album ( I heard that song supposedly sounds like the up coming stuff? idk ).

Is there a release date yet?

[Pandabear 414]

^ September 26, 2011

oh and Deathbound isn't on the official album. I think it was just a single. Was listening to their latest released song "Black Tongue" and it sounds awesome.

[Merlin Coryell 0]

Pssshhhh.... to the Naysayers. Yeah, their sound changed quite a bit, but only as they matured and evolved as a band. Arrangements got tighter, more intricate, and a lot more interesting IMO.

Mastodon has become one of my favorite bands to stretch out over a few genres all within an album or two. They rock, pure and simple. Live, they will knock you on your-

[Pandabear 414]

Finally gave The Hunter a listen and it's another solid masterpiece for the band. It does have a Leviathan feel to it but with a bit more maturity and refinement. Easily gets my vote for one of the best metal/album releases of 2011.

Brandon's drumming is as sick as ever.

[bonsaijodelfisch 328]

just discovered them. knew about them quite some time but newer came to really listen to them

(i think i found their early stuff to be a little bit too "metal" for me, but might have judged that wrong...) but sorta ran over the live dvd a while ago again

(because of that melvins cover track) and holy shit this is brilliant!

crack the skye is on heavy rotation rigt now, next will be the hunter and blood mountain. Great Band!!

pretty much a more rockish version of russian circles (drummers ftw!) with vocals

EDIT: ugh, first drawback, "the hunter" is masterd beyond enjoyability, digital distortion all over the place.

damn there goes an otherwise perhaps nice album, but totally broken sound... bleeding ears bwärg (maybe it's just a shitty rip, but it seems pretty legit to me and 'spek' so i'm guessing the loudnesswar just claimed another victim...)

EDIT2: hrmph, blood mointain is a little better but in some(/most) parts (bladecatcher for example) still a clipping-fest. goddammit, another otherwise great album for the trashcan, fucking stupid mastering-fucks fucking fuck!!!

[Visutox 188]

Updates on the new album: 

 

"Emperor of Sand" is the title of the band's upcoming release. It will be released on the 31st of March. 

 

Tracklist :

1. Sultan's Curse
2. Show Yourself
3. Precious Stones
4. Steambreather
5. Roots Remain
6. Word to the Wise
7. Ancient Kingdom
8. Clandestiny
9. Andromeda
10. Scorpion Breath
11. Jaguar God

 

Spoiler

 

I love the album artwork and dig how that sample sounds. Can't wait to check this out! 

 

Crack The Skye will forever remain my favorite Mastodon album to me, but I'm always excited to check out new stuff from these guys. They never disappoint. 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 27, 2017 by Visutox

[pazzi314 11]

Mastodon released the second single from Emperor of Sand today. Really digging this catchy son-of-a-bitch. Looking forward to the whole album.

[Visutox 188]

I'm really digging it too, and I'm sure there are going to be more incredible tracks. Can't wait. 

[Visutox 188]

The album has leaked, I'm spinning it right now. Will be probably be back with my shitty opinion on it.

 

EDIT: first impression I had is that it's a very good album, second impression "well, this is enjoyable" and third and definitive opinion was "good album, now let's get back to Crack The Skye". I'm still thinking that Mastodon are a pretty consistent band and that they never released a bad album. But their peak and golden era is definitely behind them. 

Edited March 24, 2017 by Visutox

[Jigsaw9 6783]

Holy shit, I just realized the last time I listened to these guys was back in 2014 when their previous album came out, haha.

 

Anyway, I gave the new record a spin. It's pretty good! I'm tempted to go to their gig in June.