Mastodon

Wednesday, 05 October 2011 14:55

Mastodon

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Band: Mastodon
Album: The Hunter
Label: Reprise, Roadrunner, Warner Bros.
Tracks: 13
Release Date: September 26th, 2011
Lenght: 53' 01" Riff Score: 8.0/10 How are scores attributed? Mastodon’s new album “The Hunter”, represents an evocative mixture of the band’s past styles with the ever constant element of experimentation, which sees them continuing to pave through new paths, adding different textures to their already known and established sound. With “The Hunter” the band reached a crossroads where they can launch themselves creatively to any kind of unexpected direction in the future…

Nowadays, to find a band that truly knows the meaning of progression and presents itself as capable of morphing their sound by incorporating new musical textures and merging past or newly acquainted influences, while maintaining their musical identity unaltered, is no simple feat, and very few can effectively achieve this kind of balance in the current days...

One of these bands is clearly Mastodon, a band who consistently always went beyond the boundaries they've set in each of their previous records. This is what made Mastodon reach a certain stage in their career on which they stopped being hailed as “the next Metallica” (as the press constantly insisted on preaching a few years ago), to be hailed as an identity with it’s own trademark songwriting and artistic blueprints in the metal world. Their style is now associated with one single reference, and that is exactly the name “Mastodon”.

“The Hunter”, their fifth album, epitomizes all of the above references. It represents a return to the previous sound of older albums, mixing the galloping riffs of “Leviathan”, the fast paced rhythms of “Blood Mountain” and the progressive soundscapes of “Crack the Skye”, while still paving the path of experimentation, and paying a simultaneous tribute to all of their collective musical influences which can be subtly heard in the likes of Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd, Yes and Genesis throughout the songs.

In the band department, Brann Dailor comes up with some irreverent and bold twists on his drumming, by taking his highly energetic style a few notches up in technique, while the guitars maintain that “Mastodon” sludgy feel with groovy/doom inspired riffs and an emotional flowing style of blues guitar soloing provided by Brent Hinds. Troy Sanders is once again the main leading vocalist on the album, with the occasional participation of Hinds and Dailor assuming lead vocal duties, in direct contrast to what had previously happened, where the three elements divided equal vocal duties on "Crack the Skye".

Referencing the songs, “Black Tongue” is an example of what Mastodon tried to achieve in the overall on this album, a merging of melody and aggression, patent on the overall progressive feel of its verses and its “Leviathan” reminiscent riffs. “Curl of the Burl” has Sanders and Dailor singing along with the song’s main hooky riff, on a mid tempo registry which could have been easily written by Black Sabbath on their “Technical Ecstasy” era while “Blasteroid” is a very speedy song with a “Blood Mountain” feel which has the remarkable drumming of Dailor paired with the interesting technical licks of the Bill Kelliher/ Hinds guitar duo, managing to kick the song into overdrive.

“Stargasm” and “All the Heavy Lifting” are mostly in the sounding vein of “Crack the Skye”. “Stargasm”, a Brent Hinds sung number, incorporates keyboard passages that provide an eerie sounding atmosphere opportunely punctuated by moments of heavy and melodic guitar riffing, while “All the Heavy Lifting” with its catchy chorus and doom laden main riff is a journey between two moments of light and shade with such a proficient level of technical execution on its intermediate section that could very well appear in some of today’s best pure progressive metal albums.

“The Hunter” is easily one of this album’s best songs. An emotional and melancholic song with clean psychadelic guitar doodling backed by an intense and nostalgic sounding keyboard. The pentatonic based solos flow with more emphasis on feeling than on technique, with a very powerful and heartfelt intensity coming out through each set of notes played by Hinds…

“Thickening” with its groove filled entrance and complex chord structuring is a song that completely shifts gears in its middle section almost sounding like an entirely different number while “Spectrelight” with its fast pouding drums, dirty sludge riffs and Maiden-esque double lead work along with the sound effect driven “Bedazzled Fingernails” could very well be among the line up of “Blood Mountain” as well.

In terms of the songs that go beyond in experimenting outside of Mastodon’s most identifiable way of songwriting, “Octupus has no Friends”, “Creature Lives” and “The Sparrow” are three different numbers each one with its own particular style. “Octopus” dwelves around tricky and complex riffs, with unorthodox drum passages, on a registry that’s unlike anything we’ve heard before from the band. “Creature Lives” on the other hand is the most bizarre sounding song on the album with a clear tribute to Steve Miller band’s “Threshold/Jet Airliner” on its intro, and “The Sparrow” finishes off the album on a highly atmospheric registry, heavily influenced by the 70’s and 80’s prog rock styles, also on a kind of melancholic feel ending with a ripping fuzzy guitar solo.

When describing “The Hunter” on a general basis, it’s an effort that sounds a little less ambitious than its antecessor “Crack the Skye” in terms of arrangements and song lengths. The songs are shorter, more straightforward, and in most cases particularly focused on one simple style of songwriting, with some exceptions that manifest themselves as new experiments through different musical structures using sound and vocal distortion effects that the band don’t usually integrate in their production of their records.

Though not all songs maintain the same level of consistency regarding the overall songwriting, Mastodon’s “The Hunter” represents the experience of a band which applied a certain level of freedom on the writing process that allowed them to create a batch of material switching between different styles without an obligation to maintain all of the songs on the same artistic note or bound by an underlining concept. This resulted on a mixture of material that having its highs and lows, will however please the fans of the heavier or most progressive sides of the band. This is the sound of a band playing what they want and trying out new alternatives, making this a good and enjoyable album simply for the fact that they’ve managed to mix styles in a cohesive way, while still sounding like the entity already known by now as the mighty “Mastodon”.

Review by: Luís Alves

Closing Notes: The album comes with an augmented reality experience, made possible by accessing a web page where you can download a browser specific program which, by using a webcam, will allow you to become “The Hunter” character that is depicted on its cover. It’s a fun, though not a long lasting experience, recommended to be launched on bright light environments. Look here for more details.