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By Ross Baker, Monday 12th December 2005 06.23pm (1421 views)
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Mastodon @ Scala, London
Date: 5th December 2005
Support: High On Fire, Blood Simple
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Tonight we are greeted with the early Christmas present of one of the best line ups seen in the U.K. for at least six months, tonight should be special but will it live up to expectations?
Blood Simple open with a fiery set of crunching riff and accessible mosh material that is catchy but doesn’t really bring anything new to the table.
Vocalist Tim Williams has a beast of a vocal range and prowls the stage like a kick boxer, while his band mates deal out their chunky riffs and breakdowns that are effective but familiar sounding, while they deliver a short sharp shock of 30 minute set from their debut album “A Cruel World” must noticeably the clubbing title track and the visceral “Straight Hate” it’s a bit of a shame that Williams act aren’t as groundbreaking as his former band Vision of Disorder but they are fun none the less, perhaps album two will show us what this act are made of.
High On Fire are inspirational tonight.
Front man Matt Pike, despite experiencing some sound problems with his microphone during the opener, is on great form churning out tar laden riffola, Drummer Joe while Bassist Joe Preston hammers out a thunderous low end groove that you can help but head bang maniacally for.
Material from current album “Blessed Black wings” blends seamlessly with their earlier material and they come close to upstaging their former support act tonight with their intense Motorhead meets Venom on cheap speed and whisky stained anthems.
When Mastodon open with ten Minute epic “Hearts Alive” just as they did on there last London date it feels a little slow to get going tonight, the band take a little while to warm up but following “Iceland” and the crushing “Megalodon” it is clear that they are now firing on all cylinders.
Drummer Brann Dailor is the engine room of this machine, effortlessly turning out a performance that most would kill their mother for and driving the songs along with their own unique feel and energy.
It is clear that the headliners tonight realize they must pull of something special to compete with the quality of their immediate support and with songs like the devastating “Hail To Fire” from their “Lifesblood” mini album they send the moshpit wild and get the crowd pumping the air triumphantly with fists in the air.
The triple threat of Sanders, Hinds and Kelliher is arguably the most fearsome front line in metal today and although none of them are your classic rock vocalist type their gruff voices work in perfect harmony with each other and compliment their music brilliantly, the anthemic chorus of “Blood and Thunder” with its impassioned “White Whale, Holy grail!” line attests to this in particular.
Following a marvellous “March of the Fire Ants” and their customary cover of Melvins classic “The Bit”, a track which the ‘Don are close to making their own, the band return to defy the venue’s curfew with an encore of a previously unreleased gem from their forthcoming Major Label debut.
On first listen it certainly sounds like Mastodon have not let up as far heaviness but there is an inherent accessibility to it that can’t help but make them more friends in the future.
One thing is for certain that while there maybe a lot of bands turning out some impressive sounds none of them are doing quite what Mastodon are doing right now, expectations exceeded.
9/10
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