Mastodon C/D ?

i think it's a solid album. tautly constructed songs with plenty of cogent guitar-based hook. not especially ambitious though, which is a bit of a shame given this band's usual propensity for really pushing the envelope. seems they took it a little easier on themselves this time round, thankfully not forgetting how to write memorable tunes in the process.

I think they were midway through putting together some kind of space-themed album and then the singer's brother died which changed the focus?

http://i.imgur.com/psFfO.jpg

^^ came here to post this

If my friend is into Mastodon and Baroness, who else should he listen to?

Kylesa?

Kylesa for sure. Black Tusk, High on Fire, Anciients, Bison BC and Kvelertak would probably all be in his wheelhouse.

Anciients.

Red Fang

Sleep

cool. thanks guys

J3ff T mentioned the very bands I would have recommended.

ok, after a few nudges from AG, i picked up 'blood mountain' and 'crack the sky' today.

so far, best track off 'blood mountain' is 'colony .. ' which is fucking spot on for my needs, so hoping for more along those kind of grooves.

quite a lot of the rest of the album drifts by in an excess of drums and heavy riffing which as a non-metal head misses the spot for me (though this may change after a few listens, as the sound is immense - and i do like that when in the mood).

however, i've not got to 'crack ..' yet, but this thread is making me keen to do so ...

ok, listened to both.
as expected, i loved 'crack ... ' a lot more.
but that was only one listen.
once i get beyond the need for xmas then these are going to be hit hard ..

Try Yakuza too.

mark e, have you checked out "Leviathan"?

"Blood Mountain" took a while to grow on me because it isn't as focused as "Leviathan" or "Crack The Skye" but I really love it now.

if they are in fopp, i will buy.
done deal.

pulled out crack the skye for the first time in years bc of this thread

forgot how much "divinations" kills

"quintessence"! christ! i wrote this record off as too exhausting to really love but some of these songs

ok, second spin of 'blood mountains' : penny is dropping.

once i get beyond the xmas season of loved up easy grooves, then i know this and 'crack .. ' are going to be perfect cobweb clearers ..

New song

http://consequenceofsound.net/2014/04/listen-mastodons-new-song-high-road/

It's OK. I liked them more when they were trying to be a prog band.

I liked them as a prog band as a, whatever, band you'd call them on The Hunter. It was nice to hear them tighten up and just write some sub five-minute songs.

Once more round the sun?

Sounds like it's probably continuing down the path of The Hunter, which I didn't love, but "High Road" is a pretty good jam.

only the void connects
we will return so deeply hung

I'm not overly enthusiastic about this but yeah, High Road has a pretty cool chorus. Every other song I've heard from it hasn't really really grabbed me. It's a shame because everything from Remission to Crack the Skye is essential, then they got a bit predictable and boring.

That seems like a weird thing to say to me, because The Hunter was such a shift in direction, away from the mega-prog and concept albums to much tighter songs. I get saying that this new one feels a bit predictable though, it's pretty much of a piece with Hunter.

I meant the song structures themselves are usually quite predictable and overly reliant on standard song format. After CtS I did have a feeling they might pare back a lot of the frills and go more straight-forward, I think the band said as much when they started writing/recording The Hunter iirc.

The Hunter isn't *bad* at all but I don't listen to it very often. I might not even bother with this new one.

only the void connects me

Blimey, it's pretty poppy isn't it? Not that I've a problem with that per se, and I think I prefer it to the OTT widdling of Blood Mountain. But it's a bit jarring to hear them come out with choruses that could belong to Linkin Park. Musicianship still excellent obviously.

I really didn't expect the last minute or so of Aunt Lisa at all.

So far I'm liking this better than The Hunter. It continues with the same emphasis on melody and more basic song structure, but feels better crafted and more consistent overall. The tracks sound like some effort went into them, where everything on The Hunter sounded very half-assed.

i think the writing on this is fantastic. played it on a 120 mile round trip drive last night in the dark in the wee hours of the morning and it just felt 'right'

moodles otm, enjoyed this right away but still can't get through the hunter, so damn bland

full disclosure:

remission >>> blood mountain = leviathan >>>>>>> crack the skye

Leviathan's my favourite, though I've never actually listened to Remission.

#1 on the Billboard rock chart

dang

I'm no fan of the Remission/Leviathan era, but this one's an enjoyable listen so far. They're basically Avenged Sevenfold with more chops.

Really digging Once More 'Round now, it's a grower. Tread Lightly to Asleep in the Deep is a killer run, couldn't choose my favourite from those six songs.

I've been listening to a ton of Mastodon lately. One thing that struck me after listening to songs from throughout their catalog back-to-back is just how consistent they've been all along. There's been a trend toward more melodic, more concise songs, but plenty of their old stuff was melodic and there's still plenty of crazy prog tangents on their new stuff, and it all hits hard. I've also come around a lot on The Hunter. There are probably only a couple songs on there that I don't care for and lots of very solid stuff. I just keep liking these guys more and more!

Yeah they're a band that really reward repeated close listening.

3.10 - 3.30 on High Road may actually be the most rocking passage of music in existence.

Yeah, love how it opens up into that melodic passage after all the brutal riffing. I also love how they dig into those super low notes in the main riff.

I've tried but I can't get into this new one. It's too straight-forward and obvious, or a lesser attempt at their older sounds like The Hunter. I get that Crack the Skye was a difficult album for them personally as well as musically and they wanted to become a bit more relaxed in approach ever since but they've just sounded half-arsed ever since. I'm glad that they're successful and most likely make a living from what they do now because they deserve it but to me they've just gone from amazing to mediocre.

The tracks on the last two albums are less obviously proggy than their earlier stuff but there are a lot more twists and turns in there than may be apparent on first listen.

I've listened to it a few times now, but it's just not doing it for me! They're still a pretty good band but I don't think I'll be listening to this too often. If I want sludgy proggy pop-metal Torche and Floor are way superior so I'll stick with them for the time being

yeah i actually thought this record had a lot more oblique and unexpected passages than say the hunter

i've only listened to it once though. iirc it was groovy and fun

I really tried with The Hunter but some kind of spark of life is just missing

Having difficulty rallying my irl friends for the Brixton show in November, anyone off here going?