Mastodon
Emperor of Sand
Reprise Records
2017
Over about seven albums and a plethora of EPs, Mastodon have gone from a death-breath sludge metal, to a pseudo epic-prog hipster metal, despite not quite fitting any of those subgenres or deserve such labels. They mellowed down considerably, when making the jump from Relapse to Reprise (a Warner Bros sub-label) but largely failing to capitalize on that move, rather maintaining their status and fan base, which is also quite commendable in a world where sales have completely plummeted, thanks to putting out some elaborate physical products.
What really puzzles me though is the band’s insistence to do vocals themselves when clearly, none in the band is any good at singing, with probably their drummer Brann Dailor being a bit of an exception as he’s fairly tolerable behind the mic. But if the kids like that, who am I to argue, eh?!
“Sultan’s Curse”, which opens the album, has some nice riffs and moments that get marred by some pretty amateur vocals (a poor Ozzy imitation and a somewhat better young Lemmy ones) in a track that would benefit as hell from a charismatic “heavy metal” vocalist and a bit more staccato rhythm.
“Show Yourself” is a bit more poppy, but manages to maintain some mystic and heaviness, turning into a bit of a favorite…
“Precious Stones” despite a heavier fuzzy riff and some ideas, it doesn’t go anywhere with Hinds poor vocals… in fact if someone could put a gag on that stupid drunk we might not have to hear things like “Judas Priest isn’t metal” and such, as well as his poor whiny attempts at singing.
“Steambreather” is OK, but really basing itself around a pretty repetitive motif, well you know makes it you know, a bit monotonous… however it’s not all that bad.
“Roots Remain” has this convoluted, spiraling melody going on initially that’s quite endearing, but breaks in a completely indifferent way and just repeats the same trick – throwing in a bit of an atmospheric interlude and a somewhat half competent lead… being a somewhat ambiguous track.
When it comes to “Word to the Wise”, I must attest that despite the interesting drum barrage and nifty melody, I’d rather have been listening to Skyclad’s much more defined song by the same name. It will, no doubt, excite people whose tastes go as far as Baroness and then back to Mastodon, but overall, ahem… no.
“Ancient Kingdom” is similar. A couple of redeeming qualities like a nice riff here and a badly executed good vocal idea there… that gives you a bit of a headache in under five minutes.
“Clandestiny” tries to throwback a bit to the earlier days of the band, but this one leg on each camp leaves it with no legs to stand on and it collapses under the void its own aspirations leave it with. It’s another song that shows how glaringly obvious the lack of a good singer in this band is, as the limited range and weird timbre has the band members trying to masque their poor vocals with generous amounts of ‘verb.
“Andromeda” has a nice first part, but after some guitar noodling in the middle it just relapses with a variety of chaotic variations and inventions that don’t seem that well thought out.
“Scorpion Breath” is a lot easier to follow with a couple of nice riffs giving it character, but not much of a chorus – another thing that a good singer could remedy.
“Jaguar God” is almost funny, with its nasal vocals which make Ozzy sound like Pavarotti, trying to be melodic. The acid pop section that follows isn’t that bad and gets heavier on occasion and I suppose I didn’t mind the solo at the end, although I did find it a bit sloppy in execution.
Really, to me this is a band going through the motions, unable to really progress seriously, or even reach the pinnacle of their ability, because of the lack of a singer that keeps them from attempting more daring sections. And named prog because of what, because of repetitive motifs over some fairly competent drumming?! Pulleez… if this is “prog” then I got news for you, it’s also “boring” in many places and lacks the focus and identity that other bands have, unless the threshold the band dwells is a genre by itself…
What really puzzles me though is the band’s insistence to do vocals themselves when clearly, none in the band is any good at singing, with probably their drummer Brann Dailor being a bit of an exception as he’s fairly tolerable behind the mic. But if the kids like that, who am I to argue, eh?!
“Sultan’s Curse”, which opens the album, has some nice riffs and moments that get marred by some pretty amateur vocals (a poor Ozzy imitation and a somewhat better young Lemmy ones) in a track that would benefit as hell from a charismatic “heavy metal” vocalist and a bit more staccato rhythm.
“Show Yourself” is a bit more poppy, but manages to maintain some mystic and heaviness, turning into a bit of a favorite…
“Precious Stones” despite a heavier fuzzy riff and some ideas, it doesn’t go anywhere with Hinds poor vocals… in fact if someone could put a gag on that stupid drunk we might not have to hear things like “Judas Priest isn’t metal” and such, as well as his poor whiny attempts at singing.
“Steambreather” is OK, but really basing itself around a pretty repetitive motif, well you know makes it you know, a bit monotonous… however it’s not all that bad.
“Roots Remain” has this convoluted, spiraling melody going on initially that’s quite endearing, but breaks in a completely indifferent way and just repeats the same trick – throwing in a bit of an atmospheric interlude and a somewhat half competent lead… being a somewhat ambiguous track.
When it comes to “Word to the Wise”, I must attest that despite the interesting drum barrage and nifty melody, I’d rather have been listening to Skyclad’s much more defined song by the same name. It will, no doubt, excite people whose tastes go as far as Baroness and then back to Mastodon, but overall, ahem… no.
“Ancient Kingdom” is similar. A couple of redeeming qualities like a nice riff here and a badly executed good vocal idea there… that gives you a bit of a headache in under five minutes.
“Clandestiny” tries to throwback a bit to the earlier days of the band, but this one leg on each camp leaves it with no legs to stand on and it collapses under the void its own aspirations leave it with. It’s another song that shows how glaringly obvious the lack of a good singer in this band is, as the limited range and weird timbre has the band members trying to masque their poor vocals with generous amounts of ‘verb.
“Andromeda” has a nice first part, but after some guitar noodling in the middle it just relapses with a variety of chaotic variations and inventions that don’t seem that well thought out.
“Scorpion Breath” is a lot easier to follow with a couple of nice riffs giving it character, but not much of a chorus – another thing that a good singer could remedy.
“Jaguar God” is almost funny, with its nasal vocals which make Ozzy sound like Pavarotti, trying to be melodic. The acid pop section that follows isn’t that bad and gets heavier on occasion and I suppose I didn’t mind the solo at the end, although I did find it a bit sloppy in execution.
Really, to me this is a band going through the motions, unable to really progress seriously, or even reach the pinnacle of their ability, because of the lack of a singer that keeps them from attempting more daring sections. And named prog because of what, because of repetitive motifs over some fairly competent drumming?! Pulleez… if this is “prog” then I got news for you, it’s also “boring” in many places and lacks the focus and identity that other bands have, unless the threshold the band dwells is a genre by itself…