I'm completely preoccupied with other things today, so I've only kind of been half-listening, but I'm digging it...A LOT! Warner Bros. apparently makes their artists spend more time on vocals than Relapse because at times, they actually sound...well...good. Rhymically and arragement-wise...they're still on the top of the heap. And maybe I'm misinterpreting it, but "Bladecatcher" is a fucking gas! I'm sure this won't get much attention on this site since both Iron Maiden and Stone Sour just put out records, but I just wanted to put my 2 cents out.
So far, "worth it"
Right after I take a break from listening to the new Stone Sour.
Scat by numbers.
Judas Priest Jacob! I was totally about to give you a cyber high-five then I saw the fucking Evanescence post. One step forward...two steps back bucko!
my dog loves you
You know, one of the biggest things that strikes me about this record is that they seem to be the first out of the modern metal bands to step away from this "all scream-all the time" metal singing in a convincing way (you know....NOT like Candiria). It doesn't reak of trying to make the major label "breakthrough" record, and along the way they actually gave the screaming parts a reason to be there.
This album's got about 4 years of me going apeshit over Remission and Leviathan to get over, but this could very well turn out to be my favorite Mastodon record....or I'll get bored with it next week.
theawakener:i heard a track off of it on the relapse site awhile ago and well...it was just kinda boring. it's hard for me to believe nick would be into it if it was 'boring', so im just going to assume the one track i heard was just not super great. i will probably pick it up. remission is still my favorite album, even more so than the first EP. i did like leviathen quite abit as well. hopefully when people say'diverse', that doesnt mean dumbed-down, because if i buy this and it sucks, i'm coming back to yell at all of you. ;)
If that song was the same as the first one they put up on myspace, then yeah...that one was kind of a snoozer. Luckily the whole album's not like that. In my opinion, Remission and Leviathan could be considered "dumbed down" in camparison to Lifesblood (and the material that became Call of the Mastodon) if you wanted it to be. But if you're not that ridiculous, then you'll probably still find plenty of interesting stuff here. Instrumentally, it's still VERY Mastodon, but I haven't given much focus to that side of it because I've been really focused on the develpment they've made vocally. I don't know...I think you could probably dig it, Andy. If you don't, come to the Uptown on Thursday and I'll buy you a drink.
reddish-yellow void
OK, I am WAY late to the table here, but Blood Mountain has to be one of the most brilliantly crafted albums I have ever heard...
I loved Remission, and I loved Leviathan (A LOT), but this album has just grabbed me by the balls and hasn't let go. The drumming is ridiculously awesome, the riffs are absolutely badass, the vocals are actually decent (and I can HEAR them!), and finally, one of the things I really appreciate about Mastodon, is that the bass actually has a very prominent place in the band... without being obnoxious funk or slappy shit. It just rumbles and fills out the bottom end and really adds a much-needed layer to the sound that WAY too many bands neglect.
And of course, the songwriting is brilliant, as it always has been. Circle of Cysquatch seems to take the elements that I love most from every form of heavy music I listen to and crams it all into one completely badass song...From the chaotic opening riffs, to the fast, driving verse riffs, and then all the way to dancing Iron Maiden-ish riff into the crazy breakdown-ish part with the heavily distorted vocals, and then, as if that wasn't enough, it busts into the chunkiest, heavy, sludge-metal breakdown you have ever heard, complete with the bass slides. Awesome.
And that is just one track out of many on this album...
These guys deserve every bit of praise they get. Fucking awesome band that sounds like no one else out there that I am aware of.
Ya know, thats it, I'm buying this sucka! After hearing the single a few times, which I thoght was a pretty cool song, I wanted to write them off....but it seems here the majority is ruling on it being a album worth buying....It's gonna be hard to get me to put away Protest The Hero's "Fortress" for a week, but I think this album just may do it! YAY!
DO IT. It's worth it.
Blood Mountain is the best CD purchase I have made within the last 12 months, because it's the one I'm most impressed with.