Review - Mastodon - The Hunter

Mastodon 2011

Cover-Artwork

Mastodon: The quirky prog-boys go back to their rock roots.

Crack the Skye was Mastodon's proggiest effort ever. The sheer amount of different riffs, drum-fills, breaks and tempo changes made it the most complex Mastodon-record to date. At the same time, it was the end of a concept of the 4 elements, which had started with Remission.

So what does a band do after playing their most complex record as a whole every night on tour and now having a "new" artistic freedom at hand? They go back to their rock-roots, of course.

And in Mastodon's case those are, among others: Thin Lizzy, Foreigner, Boston and King Crimson. Not the shabbiest bands to draw inspiration from. Now imagine those classic/prog-rock roots combined with Mastodon's ability to write rocking riffs and their qurikyness: You get straight prog-rock songs with hilarious song-titles like "Octopus has no Friends", "Bedazzled Fingernails", "Blasteroid", "Creature lives" or "Stargasm".

I don't even have to mention that the technicality of the songs is at an extremely high level, do I?

While most of the songs deal with funnier, less serious stuff like 80s-games for example, the title-track is dedicated to the death of Brent Hinds' brother. You can definitely tell that Brend has poured a lot of emotions into this song. What also stands out, is Troy's (bass) vocals performance: he's never sounded more like Scott Kelly from Neurosis.

The Hunter to me seems like Mastodon combining the structures and energy of Remission with the feel of Crack the Skye. A big number of Mastodon fans probably won't like this record, because it is a step away from Crack the Skye. But, as the band has mentioned several times, the last thing they want to do is repeat themselves. And isn't that the main idea behind prog?

Video for Curl of the Burl