BLOOD MOUNTAIN

Mastodon was called the next big thing in metal when they released Remission. Mastodon was called the new Metallica when they released Leviathan. Now they have a new album, an even better album then their other albums and I'm yet to see what titles there is going to next. The new Beatles? Perhaps even the new Beethoven? But one thing is true, they are good. Mastodon is really freaking good! And again they haven't let me down. The good thing about Mastodon is that they can be very high tech but still have some feeling with their songs. Bands like The Fall of Troy, Deadwater Drowning and other semi-hardcore acts can sound very technical but I don't feel anything with their music while with this band right here the music sounds a lot more heartfelt and I think that's a great thing. I might be the perfect combination between sludge (Isis) and hyper technical shit (Dillinger) but I simply love this music.

But on to the album. Blood Mountain is a lot more (god I hate that word but I'll say it anyway) mature. Their music calmed down a bit since Remission. They are still very intense but instead of the crazy rhythms and screams everywhere they are actual true songs here. Actually they started with this process on Leviathan but on a very different way. The singing is very different and the songs progress a lot more than on Leviathan. Also there is a lot of variation here, some songs are absolutely over the top intense like "Bladecatcher" and "The wolf is Loose" and some are slower and are a lot more stoner like "Sleeping Giant" and "This Mortal soil". They are intense as well but in a very different way, I mean that in a sense that they are absolutely beautiful. The new vocals add a lot to the music and give a very epic feel to everything and I think they are much better than the singing on Leviathan. Instead of the screaming there is more singing in low-key. They also featured this on some songs on Leviathan but they are a lot better here and a lot more present. Another big aspect on the new album is that there are solos! Hurray! I'm a sucker for guitarsolos and I think a solo can improve a song and put it on another level. All in all this is a very different album while still being Mastodon. The band has evolved and it's a very good change, there are a lot of sludge influences and also some prog. The guest musicians Scott Kelly from Neurosis, Cedric Bixler from the Mars Volta and Josh Homme from the Queens of the stone Age don't really at a lot to the album but aren't annoying.

Mastodon themselves said that they made albums according to the elements. Remission was Fire; Leviathan was water and Blood Mountain of course earth. Now I'm a sucker for concepts as well so I'm pretty anxious about the wind album : ).

Originally written for Musicmademe.com