Blood Mountain : Mastodon : Review : Rolling Stone

Metal excess is back: exhibit A this month is Blood Mountain, the follow-up to Mastodon's 2004 breakthrough, Leviathan, which took Herman Melville's Moby Dick and refashioned it into one hell of a heavy sea chantey. The Atlanta band consists of four guys who look like tattooed auto mechanics, but they sound like they should be wearing capes and spitting fire. Blood Mountain transforms potentially lame self-help bromides about overcoming great obstacles into a sternum-rattling sci-fi journey through a land infested with all manner of beasties, including a cyclops ("Circle Cysquatch"), warrior tree people ("Colony of Birchmen") and some sort of sleeping giant. Underneath all this medieval blood and thunder are actual tunes brimming with roller-coaster riffing ("Bladecatcher" merits an Air Guitar Hall of Fame nomination), lost-in-the-catacombs dreaminess ("Sleeping Giant") and blinding shafts of acoustic-powered star shine ("Pendulous Skin"). Melody matters as much as mayhem, and the treacherous tempo shifts are navigated brilliantly by drummer Brann Dailor, who turns "Capillarian Crest" into a giddy chase through a blinding snowstorm. Yes, sometimes more is better.

GREG KOT

(Posted: Sep 6, 2006)

News and Reviews

How to Play This Album

Click the play button.
Register or enter your username and password.
Let the music play!

No commitment.
It's FREE.

Track List

Play All

Your Turn

Give us your review of Blood Mountain

Review 1 of 2

Not Rated

Short hair, C.S. Lewis/Tolkienesque lyrics, King Crimson/Yes/Rush musical influences... this can't be a Metal band. But somehow, Metal has never sounded so sincerely hard and excellent at the same time. What Dream Theater did for Metal/Jam fans, Mastodon has collectively done for Metal/Prog Rock fans. And it sounds amazing... Blood Mountain is not only the arguably best Metal album of the last few years, but is arguably the best Prog Rock album as well. With the likes of Cedric Bixler Zavala (Mars Volta) and Ikey Owens (Mars Volta and Long Beach Dub Allstars) contributing vocals and keyboard respectively on the final two tracks of the album, this is one for the ages. It truly is a metal album, but it has converted a Prog rock fan into a metal fan as well. Check tracks 1-12 to see references, you won't be disappointed. Bonus: Josh Homme on track 7 that sounds a lot like a Queens of the Stone Age song.

Apr 8, 2008 02:40:03

Review 2 of 2

5of 5 Stars

Awesome! All the things I love about Mastadon with better vocals.

This is truely a classic album.

myspace.com/rabidcadaverdogs

Sep 14, 2006 06:58:52

Previous Next