Mastodon C/D ?

The first half of this is fantastic. STARGASM!

yeah tis a good album. Cant afford $60 for the deluxe edition this time. Will save up for the vinyl.

I keep putting this on, thinking it sounds pretty good, and then reaching for the new Rwake album before I get to track 5.

You're not getting to the best part is the problem. While I love the whole thing, I definitely think some of the more exciting stuff happens in the second half.

I love the whole thing. Weirdly I like listening to it as a whole each time, which is odd given that it's not a Crack The Skye or what have you.

You're not getting to the best part is the problem. While I love the whole thing, I definitely think some of the more exciting stuff happens in the second half.

― jon /via/ chi 2.0, Monday, October 3, 2011 1:16 PM (38 minutes ago) Bookmark

This could be true. I haven't really devoted the sort of time to this album it deserves. Gotta get blazed with some headphones and give it my undivided attention. Maybe this weekend. Will report back.

Rwake still made the best metal album of 2011, though, I'm sure of it.

The Rwake is definitely up there, yes, but don't skip out on the Mastodon. Its a really great shift for these dudes, even coming from someone who has loved the shit out of the proggier stuff.

yeah, I thought crack the skye was really great but am also kind of relieved that they've gotten the prog epics out of their system. (for the time being, anyway.)

and yeah, the rwake album definitely hit me harder and more immediately than the new mastodon fwiw

xp Oh yeah, I mean, Crack the Skye is by far my favorite Mastodon album, so no anti-prog sentiments here. I'm looking forward to digging deeper. First listen though, it sounded good-not-great. I need, err, context. :)

my favorite will probably always be remission but I resigned myself to the fact that they're never gonna do another one like that a long, long time ago

The sound on this lp is bad. The guitar tones are piercing, harsh and extremely annoying at high volumes, no grit to them at all.

Everything else about this is good though, especially the drumming.

I don't think the sound is bad, as in Metallica bad. It's certainly got a high sheen to it though...

Well, its bad as in I cant listen to it at (comfortably) high volumes for long without fatigue. Not un-listenable, just unfortunate. The drums aren't as punchy as I'd like either, especially the kick. Idk man, the songs are there, I'm just picky about sound.

And yeah, not many records are St Anger bad.

OK, got through the whole thing tonight and gave it my undivided attention. At first only "Curl Of the Burl" made an impression, but now more songs are standing out ("All The Heavy Lifting," "Stargasm") and I think anyone foolish enough to compare this to Foo Fighters must have skipped the absolutely brutal and awesome "Blasteroid," but more than half of these seem like filler tracks. The title track is a super dud, and I'm not sure how I feel about "Creature Lives." I sorta wish they just made the good songs longer and left off some of these mediocre, unmemorable ones.

i think it's a solid album. tautly constructed songs with plenty of cogent guitar-based hook. not especially ambitious though, which is a bit of a shame given this band's usual propensity for really pushing the envelope. seems they took it a little easier on themselves this time round, thankfully not forgetting how to write memorable tunes in the process.

I think they were midway through putting together some kind of space-themed album and then the singer's brother died which changed the focus?

http://i.imgur.com/psFfO.jpg

^^ came here to post this

If my friend is into Mastodon and Baroness, who else should he listen to?

Kylesa?

Kylesa for sure. Black Tusk, High on Fire, Anciients, Bison BC and Kvelertak would probably all be in his wheelhouse.

Anciients.

Red Fang

Sleep

cool. thanks guys

J3ff T mentioned the very bands I would have recommended.

ok, after a few nudges from AG, i picked up 'blood mountain' and 'crack the sky' today.

so far, best track off 'blood mountain' is 'colony .. ' which is fucking spot on for my needs, so hoping for more along those kind of grooves.

quite a lot of the rest of the album drifts by in an excess of drums and heavy riffing which as a non-metal head misses the spot for me (though this may change after a few listens, as the sound is immense - and i do like that when in the mood).

however, i've not got to 'crack ..' yet, but this thread is making me keen to do so ...

ok, listened to both.
as expected, i loved 'crack ... ' a lot more.
but that was only one listen.
once i get beyond the need for xmas then these are going to be hit hard ..

Try Yakuza too.

mark e, have you checked out "Leviathan"?

"Blood Mountain" took a while to grow on me because it isn't as focused as "Leviathan" or "Crack The Skye" but I really love it now.

if they are in fopp, i will buy.
done deal.

pulled out crack the skye for the first time in years bc of this thread

forgot how much "divinations" kills

"quintessence"! christ! i wrote this record off as too exhausting to really love but some of these songs

ok, second spin of 'blood mountains' : penny is dropping.

once i get beyond the xmas season of loved up easy grooves, then i know this and 'crack .. ' are going to be perfect cobweb clearers ..

New song

http://consequenceofsound.net/2014/04/listen-mastodons-new-song-high-road/

It's OK. I liked them more when they were trying to be a prog band.

I liked them as a prog band as a, whatever, band you'd call them on The Hunter. It was nice to hear them tighten up and just write some sub five-minute songs.

Once more round the sun?

Sounds like it's probably continuing down the path of The Hunter, which I didn't love, but "High Road" is a pretty good jam.

only the void connects
we will return so deeply hung

I'm not overly enthusiastic about this but yeah, High Road has a pretty cool chorus. Every other song I've heard from it hasn't really really grabbed me. It's a shame because everything from Remission to Crack the Skye is essential, then they got a bit predictable and boring.

That seems like a weird thing to say to me, because The Hunter was such a shift in direction, away from the mega-prog and concept albums to much tighter songs. I get saying that this new one feels a bit predictable though, it's pretty much of a piece with Hunter.

I meant the song structures themselves are usually quite predictable and overly reliant on standard song format. After CtS I did have a feeling they might pare back a lot of the frills and go more straight-forward, I think the band said as much when they started writing/recording The Hunter iirc.

The Hunter isn't *bad* at all but I don't listen to it very often. I might not even bother with this new one.

only the void connects me

Blimey, it's pretty poppy isn't it? Not that I've a problem with that per se, and I think I prefer it to the OTT widdling of Blood Mountain. But it's a bit jarring to hear them come out with choruses that could belong to Linkin Park. Musicianship still excellent obviously.

I really didn't expect the last minute or so of Aunt Lisa at all.

So far I'm liking this better than The Hunter. It continues with the same emphasis on melody and more basic song structure, but feels better crafted and more consistent overall. The tracks sound like some effort went into them, where everything on The Hunter sounded very half-assed.

i think the writing on this is fantastic. played it on a 120 mile round trip drive last night in the dark in the wee hours of the morning and it just felt 'right'

moodles otm, enjoyed this right away but still can't get through the hunter, so damn bland

full disclosure:

remission >>> blood mountain = leviathan >>>>>>> crack the skye