HUSHED AND GRIM

As a testament to how out of hand my queue of albums has gotten, I'm finally getting to the latest release by Prog Metal giants Mastodon. Released back in October of last year, Hushed and Grim is their first album in 4 years--if I'm not mistaken, the longest amount of time between any two releases for them. A double album at about an hour and a half long, this is a big'n... [Methinks too 'big'. See my final thoughts below. Plenty of great material on here, and I hope my notes are of assistance to future listeners.]

Opening the affair, we have "Pain with an Anchor", driving and immediate, it features numerous lead vocals. Heavy, melodic, balanced, and atop it all, with a killer solo. The track "Sickle and Peace" has a very nice, sort of hypnotic main guitar melody; decent bridge. "More Than I Could Chew" starts off with a classic proggy, spacy and most creepy Mellotron. Keyboards were performed by Stone Giant's João Nogueira, most recently involved with The Claypool Lennon Delirium! Sweet main riff and melody, this'n. Epic.

"The Beast" starts off with a very... country twang? Very very interesting choice; frankly unfamiliar territory coming from Mastodon. It's pretty actually. Very unique sound; I couldn't not mention it. I can't say some people aren't going to hate it [downer much?]. Around minute 2 is a pretty sizeable shift. Great rhythm here. Given the odd start, a surprise favorite for me!

"Teardrinker" was... alright. It had a pretty interesting synth(?) solo. Just a sound you don't hear too too often in the scope of Prog Metal, if I can say anything. The performance in the latter half was pretty spectacular from all camps, so it's a shame it's not a great song in and of itself--weird it's the... top(?!) played song from the album on Spotify(?!). Whatever haha. I will never pretend to understand the tastes, desires or expectations of 'your average listener'. [I just hope I don't sound like a d*ckhead here.]

To the starting riff on "Peace and Tranquility": Wow. Always impressed by Brent. Overall a very nice song; plenty in the Department of Instrumental Excellence and great melody to offer. I mean, honestly, it keeps on giving. Best song on the album? I think so.

"Eyes of Serpents" nearly satisfied, but didn't quite get there. Not much going on on this'n, not to mention the numerous tracks throughout that I purposefully did not mention. The final track is "Gigantium", a big swelling song (I suppose 'gigantic', sure haha), in classic Mastodon style. Actually quite lovely melodically speaking.

If anything, this album has proved as a nice step in their discography and overall creative output, but I must say, it strikes me as a tad too long. Ambition shouldn't always be met with a pat on the back haha. Plenty of great moments on here and if they would have been released as an EP, just those few songs, it would have been their best haha.

Best I can offer them is a True Rate of 3.5/5.0. At best.