BLOOD MOUNTAIN

Unhinged and uncanny, Mastodon's third studio album and major label debut 'Blood Mountain' is arguably the most outlandish entry of the entire catalog. This album takes the manic and upfront approach riff-driven of 'Leviathan' and intertwines it with some of the most fascinating, engaging and avant-garde ideas to have ever appeared on a Mastodon album, featuring a cast of interesting guests like Josh Homme or Cedric Bixler-Zavala, alongside frequent collaborator Scott Kelly of Neurosis. A twelve-track album that clocks in at about fifty-one minutes, 'Blood Mountain' is a feverish concept record that follows the adventures of a man stranded on a mountain and encountering various flamboyant creatures as well as perilous situations, with the unnerving, fast-paced and fantastically complex nature of the music complementing the storyline in a glorious manner.

An upfront progressive metal album, both heavy and thrashy and with a strong influence from stoner rock and sludge metal, most of the songs on here offer some of the gnarliest and most unique riffs of the extreme metal scene, just like 'Colony of Birchmen', 'Capillarian Crest', Circle of Cysquatch' or even 'Hunters of the Sky', although each single episode of the story can be seen as a highlight on its own for the unique taste of Mastodon for the unpredictable, which is interwoven smartly within the fabric of each track. Occasional keyboards and vocal effects provide for a touch of experimentation, while the mind-blowing performance of Brann Dailor on the drums probably steals the show here, his contributions to the massive, sprawling sound of this album are immeasurable (alongside the dense guitar tones). There is a hypnotic quality to 'Blood Mountain' that makes it an easily recognizable, impressive and immensely important album for Mastodon, and all of its surreal and aggressive soundscapes will certainly catch any listener by surprise.

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