Lets me just start this one off by saying, sorry! I had a few more reviews planned for this week, namely Freddie Gibbs, Pharmakon, Lydia Ainsworth, and that new Chaz Bundick project. However, I was on vacation and didn't do so well with scheduling once I got back! Next week is a big week however! Anyways, lets move on!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsdIO8RHMTc
(This one takes me back man)
This album starts us off with “Sultan’s Curse”. This is certainly an interesting intro, and it’s probably the darkest thing we’ve heard from the band in a few albums. Mastodon sound patient as well, and certainly aren’t trying to blare into anything over produced too fast. The atmosphere on “Sultan’s Curse” is actually solid, an when that main riff hits it’s actually really not all that bad. The back and forth performances between Troy Sanders and Brent Hinds actually comes off nicely as well. To be honest, I think the BIG element here that makes this all work, is this undeniable sense of unity. I haven’t heard this much of a cohesive Mastodon since “Blood Mountain”. It continues to be on the lighter side of things, but this really isn’t that bad at all. The confidence is certainly there in the riffs, especially in Brann Dailor’s vocals which have come so far. Of course, the instrumentals are super complex and layered, the imagery is over the top, the solos are wild, but honestly I can’t really remember the last time I had so much fun with a Mastodon track. “Show Yourself” is up next, and this one really took some time for me to appreciate. I mean once again, this is super easy on the ears when you consider just how vicious Mastodon was for some time. But if you’re familiar with their recent material, this really isn’t too bad. They continue here to sound like a unit, and they still sound like they really planned this album out pretty well (Especially more than their last two albums). Now, I know some people are going to get right into that chorus and pull it apart and call it too catchy. But to be honest if this is going to be the future for Mastodon, it’s really not THAT bad. Yes, it’s not as sludgy or as explosive, but it’s far from terrible, and it’s certainly better than some of the deep album cuts on their last few albums. Up next, we have “Precious Stones”, and from this opening riff I’m not gonna lie: I feel like this is the epitome of Mastodon trying way too hard. Brent Hind’s vocals here, which I usually feel like are sort of a secret weapon of Mastodon’s music, come off a little awkward here. Plus, the chorus chorus here isn’t nearly as interesting or as catchy as the earlier ones here. “Precious Stones” just reminds me of way too many tracks on “The Hunter”, specifically the tracks that were more or less nothing but Mastodon trying to be heavy desperately. The solos here don’t have nearly as much heart as some of the earlier ones here, and overall this one really doesn’t do anything for me. “Steambreather” on the other hand, actually sounds grimy and dirty sounding. While the lack of heaviness is still sort of an issue with me, “Strambreather” actually comes off really interesting. Brann’s vocals over the years have gotten so incredibly less awkward that it’s not even funny. This one has a really great pacing to everything, and let me tell you, when Mastodon really pace themselves, the results are pretty fantastic. Then we have the chorus, which is easily the most passionate and catchy chorus we’ve heard so far here, and probably one of their most catchy in years. Every instrumental on “Steambreather” has a very huge, lurking vibe to it, to the point where I’m never really sure whats going to happen next. Also, the imagery in the lyrics as well have been an absolute home run. Tracks like this give me nothing but hope for Mastodon in the future.
(This one takes me back man)
This album starts us off with “Sultan’s Curse”. This is certainly an interesting intro, and it’s probably the darkest thing we’ve heard from the band in a few albums. Mastodon sound patient as well, and certainly aren’t trying to blare into anything over produced too fast. The atmosphere on “Sultan’s Curse” is actually solid, an when that main riff hits it’s actually really not all that bad. The back and forth performances between Troy Sanders and Brent Hinds actually comes off nicely as well. To be honest, I think the BIG element here that makes this all work, is this undeniable sense of unity. I haven’t heard this much of a cohesive Mastodon since “Blood Mountain”. It continues to be on the lighter side of things, but this really isn’t that bad at all. The confidence is certainly there in the riffs, especially in Brann Dailor’s vocals which have come so far. Of course, the instrumentals are super complex and layered, the imagery is over the top, the solos are wild, but honestly I can’t really remember the last time I had so much fun with a Mastodon track. “Show Yourself” is up next, and this one really took some time for me to appreciate. I mean once again, this is super easy on the ears when you consider just how vicious Mastodon was for some time. But if you’re familiar with their recent material, this really isn’t too bad. They continue here to sound like a unit, and they still sound like they really planned this album out pretty well (Especially more than their last two albums). Now, I know some people are going to get right into that chorus and pull it apart and call it too catchy. But to be honest if this is going to be the future for Mastodon, it’s really not THAT bad. Yes, it’s not as sludgy or as explosive, but it’s far from terrible, and it’s certainly better than some of the deep album cuts on their last few albums. Up next, we have “Precious Stones”, and from this opening riff I’m not gonna lie: I feel like this is the epitome of Mastodon trying way too hard. Brent Hind’s vocals here, which I usually feel like are sort of a secret weapon of Mastodon’s music, come off a little awkward here. Plus, the chorus chorus here isn’t nearly as interesting or as catchy as the earlier ones here. “Precious Stones” just reminds me of way too many tracks on “The Hunter”, specifically the tracks that were more or less nothing but Mastodon trying to be heavy desperately. The solos here don’t have nearly as much heart as some of the earlier ones here, and overall this one really doesn’t do anything for me. “Steambreather” on the other hand, actually sounds grimy and dirty sounding. While the lack of heaviness is still sort of an issue with me, “Strambreather” actually comes off really interesting. Brann’s vocals over the years have gotten so incredibly less awkward that it’s not even funny. This one has a really great pacing to everything, and let me tell you, when Mastodon really pace themselves, the results are pretty fantastic. Then we have the chorus, which is easily the most passionate and catchy chorus we’ve heard so far here, and probably one of their most catchy in years. Every instrumental on “Steambreather” has a very huge, lurking vibe to it, to the point where I’m never really sure whats going to happen next. Also, the imagery in the lyrics as well have been an absolute home run. Tracks like this give me nothing but hope for Mastodon in the future.
“Roots Remain” is up next, and right off the bat is much spacier sounding. All I have to say is, if I have to sit through ANOTHER progressive Metal jam by Mastodon, I’m not going to be very happy. While this is certainly heavy, this track also comes off as a little sloppy. Worst of all however is that chorus. Brann’s chorus here might just be the most corny, overblown, and laughably cheesy hook I’ve heard from Mastodon in years. And while I get it, metal is supposed to be a little cheesy and over-the-top, this ain’t for me. I feel like “Roots Remain” is Mastodon trying way too hard to be edgy. It’s a real shame honestly, because some of these instrumentals are seriously wild as hell and are actually seriously heavy. But all of these different movements and passages and corny references are going to continue to water them down. And strangely enough, if you dissect this all, you’ll realize this to an extent is the Mastodon formula that got them sorts of praise years ago. But it worked for them because of how vicious they were. “Word To The Wise” is up next, and once again, instrumentally this is seriously explosive. But as far as vocals go, once again this one really doesn’t click with me at all. I wouldn’t say there’s anything really awful about this one, but “Word To The Wise” sounds like it was kinda thrown together at the last minute. But once again I’m seriously conflicted by this, because instrumentally there are some ridiculous moments here. The solo’s and Brann’s drum performance here are some of the best I’ve heard yet, and if I was more into these vocals this would have been a serious knock-out. Thankfully though, Mastodon get it right on “Ancient Kingdom”. This intro every time I hear it gives me the absolute chills. This track is just the right blend of grand and triumphant sounding, a sound that I feel like Mastodon could work so well with. While the vocals here are still a little over the top, hell, so is everything else here, so it works great. Little details like the bell chiming in the back of this absolutely gigantic hook work so well for Mastodon. It really comes down to just finding a balance with Mastodon honestly. The instrumentals are certainly all here, and they can still write brilliant tracks when they focus, even vocally when they focus they can still sound fantastic. The solos here are fantastic, and overall “Ancient Kingdom” makes me just so damn happy, it’s easily the most epic track here. When it comes to “Clandestiny”, instrumentally, I continue to be really pleased with how this is is all coming off. Troy Sanders here sounds OK. But while they’re isn't anything truly horribly bad about this track, there really isn’t anything that jaw dropping either. This just comes off sounding like a whole lot of older Mastodon tracks that were fantastic then, just so much more watered down. I actually seriously love the very grand atmosphere on display here, as well as some of the percussion add-ins that actually don’t come off cheesy at all. Even the synths, which is something I was dreading the arrival of so freakin much, don’t really end up coming off OK. “Clandestiny” like a great chunk of the album, really isn’t anything too memorable, but isn’t nearly as bad as the direction they’ve been going in the past few years.
Thankfully, Mastodon really bring their A-Game with some of these last few tracks. “Andromeda” is a track that really caught me off guard the first time I heard it, and it continues to every time. It almost has a Mathcore vibe in that very Dillinger Escape Plan sounding intro. Quite frankly, I really didn’t think Mastodon had THIS in them. “Andromeda” is heavy in parts, and epic when it needs to be, and it ends up coming off sounding like an old school Mastodon track. It’s intense, but it’s also really well produced, and some of those vocal harmonies here work seriously great. Instrumentally, it’s over the top with all sorts of solos, but HELL yes is it great to hear. “Andromeda” is intense, brutal, and THE track of the album. “Scorpion Breath” sort of another throwaway however. Right from this intro, this sounds like the overblown progressive bull-crap that Mastodon was shoving down our throats on “Crack The Skye”. The thing is though, as much as I couldn’t get into that album, I respected it for being instrumentally wowing. “Scorpion Breath” on the other hand is much messier and very jumbled sounding. Once again, there’s nothing here that I find to be seriously terrible, but this one also doesn’t make Mastodon look nearly as good as they believe it does. We’ve made it to the end folks, and this one was really shocking for me. “Jaguar God” starts off with an acoustic intro, and usually when I hear one of these coming from a vicious band like Mastodon I run the other way. However, this track has a sort of mystic folkiness that quite frankly really rubbed me the right way. And to be honest, every instrumental here comes off so epic. The vocals here aren’t exactly what I expected, being much smoother and softer. But to be honest, overall as far as a memorable finale goes, this is one of the most epic I’ve heard in years from Mastodon. The keys in the background are a nice touch as well. Now, let me just say this, I’m usually the harshest of critics when it comes to progressive rock influence. But on “Jaguar God”, I think it comes off incredibly well. As soon as the second “movement” pops in here, I feel like everything seriously clicks. All of the sounds that Mastodon were going for earlier, the grandness, the epic passages, it all culminates right here, and ends up resulting in some of the most exciting moments here. I love how the acoustic riff sticks around even when things get heavy, and as lead vocal duties switch from member to member nothing gets sloppy. Even the heavier moments that pop in later on come off seriously vicious, and may be some of the heaviest moments of the entire album. So let me just wrap this up by saying this. This is far from a perfect album, and I do have a lot of minor issues here and there. But I still think that this is probably the best thing Mastodon has done since “Blood Mountain”. If you’re a fan of their more progressive stuff however, you’re going to enjoy this even more than I did.
Rating 7.5/10
Give A Listen To: “Sultan’s Curse”, “Steambreather”, “Jaguar God”, "Andromeda"
Overall Thoughts: Now, I'm not going to sit here and say that Mastodon are back to their old ways. But this is probably the closest thing I've felt to an actual Mastodon album since "Blood Mountain". While yes, the vocals are a BIG issue with me, and I feel like the viciousness has completely died down in Mastodon, there's also tons to enjoy here. The songwriting for the most part is solid, and when they don't try to being something they're not, the instrumentals come off just as heavy as they once were. This album actually gives me a little hope for the future of Mastodon. But like I said earlier, if you're a fan of their more progressive stuff, this is going to be a whole lot more enjoyable for you.
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