HUSHED AND GRIM

To be honest, I wasn't expecting this album to be so good. The singles were alright, but nothing that took my breath away. "Pushing the Tides" didn't do anything for me when I first heared it, and "Teardrinker" although being a good song was nothing that I haven't listened from the band before.

However, Hushed and Grim is an album that is meant to be experience in full. In the same way that in classics such as Tales From Topographic Oceans or The Lamb Lies on Broadway, the songs doesn't have the same impact if you listen to them separately, as they are conceived to be listened as a hole. In fact, the two aforementioned singles have a vital role in these matter. This album is by far the most experimental, laid-back and alternative that Mastodon has put out, and those two energetic songs serve as a break in between the two chunks of more elaborated and calmer songs.

On the first LP we have bangers such as "Sickle and Peace", a psychedelic anthem that will drown you in his hypnotic riffing. I also love the change to the chorus and the riff of that part, which reminds me a lot of a more heavier Black Sabbath. "More Than I Could Chew" is another one of my favourites, with a 10/10 riff by Bill Kelliher, which is reminiscent of that from "The Last Baron" that is loved by every fan of the band. "Skeleton of Splendor" is a splendid ballad and "The Beast" is the most clear example of Hinds taking the reins in all of the album. I didn't really like this song that much on the first hearings, but it has grown in me a lot. Although I would say that is something that fits better on an album from West End Motel (the other band of Brent Hinds) than on a Mastodon one.

But for me, the second LP is what takes the cake. All of my favourite songs are in there. "Had It All" is possible the most precious song that the band has ever written and always makes me shed a tear. "Savage Lands" is alongside "Pushing the Tides" the more direct song of the bunch and I like it better than the other one. "Gobblers of Dregs" is my favourite song of them all, being a modern version of the best years from Black Sabbath. "Eyes of Serpents" is another banger (Kelliher says that it is his favourite song from Mastodon at the moment), and "Gigantium" is a beautiful piece of art cut into two parts, having the second one the best solo that Hinds have ever put to tape.

I also love the lyrics of the album. This time they haven't taken the conceptual approach, but all the songs talk about similar topics, suchs as loss, depression and nostalgia. They are for me the best ones they have written alongside the ones from "Crack the Skye". Maybe in the mucianship department they are more restrained (specially Dailor), but I think that is for the better, and the performances always fit the songs.

Hushed and Grim don't have the raw power of Blood Mountain or Crack the Skye, but it shows a band in his maturity, a band that is not afraid to swim in other waters and comes out victorius doing it. For me is a clear top 3 from the band and a contender for best prog metal album of 2021.