|
By Mark Cooper, Thursday 16th November 2006 09.00am (1700 views)
|
|
Imagery, myth & folklore have often surrounded metal & heavy rock, hell in the seventies it was unheard of not to pay reference to sixteenth century philosophers, Satan worshipers, dragons and all manner of mysterious legends.
When Mastodon's last album came out the critics were in a frenzy, frantically trying to understand the motives & hidden meaning behind songs about Captain Ahab and Moby Dick.With Herman Melville now out of the picture Mastodon release ‘Blood mountain’ and in keeping with their previous material will continue to confuse the critics and please their fans.
‘Blood mountain’ starts with the thunderous drumming of Brann Dailor on ‘The wolf is loose’ and rolls into a riff which only Mastodon could write, parts Sepultura (Chaos a.d era.) parts Slayer with Mastodons fingerprint for the unusual all over it.
There is a strong punk vibe to some of the songs. ‘Circle of Cysquath’- one of the best songs on the album- bearing a heavy punk feel; it’s punk with weight, not that punk didn’t have any in the first place, it’s always threatened to beat you up if you looked at it the wrong way, it’s just that this threatens to kill you.
Kelliiher & Hinds guitar work hinting at Black flag in the furious moments and the Melvin’s in the experimental ones.
Scaling different but still epic ideas to ‘Leviathan’, ‘Crystal skull’ shows the prog in Mastodon with Sabbath sections and the green hue of stoner metal pot descending at judicious moments.
Vocally Troy Sanders continues the Ozzy, Tom Arya moving into Rob Flynn style punctuated with strange mechanical effects and moments approaching lunacy.
It would be all to easy to describe the sound as complicated yet simple, but this would be doing Mastodon a massive disservice-it is simply well executed involved song writing, at times willing to move away from the herd and write challenging music through exploration and risk; don’t worry this isn’t going to end with a ‘Jazz metal’ revelation it’s experimentation and Mastodon prove that it can exist in metal. ‘Bladecatcher’ with its subtle opening a prelude to the madness proves this, and when ‘Colony of Birchmen’ threatens to move into Tool territory it ultimately comes across as two artists swapping stories.
On the final track ‘Pendulous Skin’ the album gives a more complete picture of the band than ‘Leviathan’ did, closer to stoner metal but with an astonishing solo touching on Pink Floyd and ideas left by Frank Zappa it simultaneously completes their sound and opens up several avenues for them to wander into.
The riff of ‘Hand of Stone’ seems an envitable riff for Mastodon to come up with, but herein lies the reason they have their individuality and the sign of a good band, Mastodon’s music is all about struggle, struggle and it’s eventual resolution, ‘Blood mountain’ represent this at every juncture and moves Mastodon into position as a significant artist in the metal fraternity.
For more information you can visit: http://www.mastodonrocks.com
|
No comments have been posted for this article.
Why not be the first to add a comment?
|
|
|
Related Articles |
|
|
Related Reviews |
|
|
|
