Mastodon C/D ?

I'm liking this more every time I hear it. There are a half dozen memorable things going on at any given moment in a song, and they don't linger on any of them long enough for the listener to get complacent. The harmonies on the chorus in "Oblivion" (+ the two guitar fills!!) the awesome fast riffs in "Divinations," the Sam Rivers I'm hearing on "Quintessence"--is that just me?--to say nothing of the awesomely flanged harmonies.

And I've only really processed the first half...!

The opening of the title track is a little Tim Burtallica for my taste but by the time big chorus comes in its totally worth it

Holy shit @ the drums about 5 minutes in on Last Baron

Holy crap, this album kicks ass. Being more of a prog fan than a metalhead, I've tried to get into Mastodon in the past, but it was a bit too much screaming and bludgeoning for me. This, however, is the album I've been waiting my whole life to hear. One of the best rock records in a long, long time. And damn, the production on this is off tha hook!

I bet that Relayer homage I mentioned above was intentional. This records about Russia; Gates of Delirium was about Russia (supposedly based on War and Peace).

my favourite from them so far, and i say that with firm conviction after only a couple of listens.

i liked blood mountain on the whole, but struggled with a couple of the tracks, finding it at times stuck awkwardly in the muddied middleground between extreme metal and QOTSA or something.

the balance on this new album seems just right.

i also really dig their first record too.

one more thing - scott kelly's guest spot in the title track is outstanding. it's a pity in some ways that he always overshadows the other singers on these albums.

I'm not a metalhead at all. It's my other half who is and he keeps flinging stuff at me and some of it's stuck (Meshuggah, Textures, Isis) but this album is really amazing. I agree with the comparisons upthread to Ozzy and Alice in Chains, I came up with the same ones.

The overall story that links his sister's death with the weird rasputin thing, is fascinating and VERY prog. I cant be bothered trying to listen to it in thelyrics, but yeah, this album is very interesting.

May I timidly say this is very much an acid album?

weird that they sectored up 'the czar' into parts in the title as the whole song flows really nicely together as the one piece. maybe to accentuate the concept or something.

'oblivion' is an amazing opening track

10 more days, 10 more days.

listening to the track 'workhorse' now. in fact i've listened to it a couple of times in a row as i don't want that groove to leave my head. awesome stuff.

I was just wondering why, with Jonah Hex opening this weekend, that I hadn't heard much more about the soundtrack work they were doing and then I came across this article tonight. They're releasing an EP of songs from the film on June 29th.

woah! awesome!

http://www.thrashhits.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/MastodonXmasShirtThrashHits.jpg

OMG WAU.

want

http://www.mastodonrocks.com/sites/mastodonrocks/files/merch/preview/detail_beerstein.jpg

Metal has such great merchandise. It's taking a serious effort to not buy that.

its sold out apparently (they were $99) I dont even drink but I always wanted that Khanate hipflask

thankfully other people beat me to it. i wonder what would be an appropriate drink for a khanate hipflask. i'm not sure even pure grain alcohol would fit.

seriously though. if it's costs 99.00 it better turn me into a viking after drinking out of it.

appropriate drink for khanate hipflask = hemlock

Goddamn that band has some crazy merch - beer cozies? Far out. But what they should really get are some official Mastodon ones of these.

next album's called the hunter

http://pitchfork.com/news/42888-mastodon-name-new-lp-hilarious-song-titles/

it will include songs titled "Blasteroids", "The Octopus Has No Friends", "Stargasm", and "Curl of the Burl".

lmao @ the octopus has no friends

excited!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLbSRrlOsRA

now THAT is how you make a video!

i think my fav is the muppet that eats itself into oblivion!

guitar leads in new track "black tongue" remind me of swedish band dissection in a strange kind of way.

IT'S JUST THE CURL OF THE BURL

I KILLED A MAN BECAUSE HE KILLED MY GOAT

New album is even more melodic and the songs are pretty concise. Did they sell out again?

Man, fuck it. Who cares? This is clearly their best album since Leviathan. I for one am glad it's full of goat killing ZZ Top songs.

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.