Mastodon - Emperor of Sand

[Valen]

Now that the band's latest album has been out for a few weeks and I've had a chance to get into it, is the new music a case of the Emperor's new clothes, or are the sands of inspiration running low?

After an intensive weekend's listening to Emperor of Sand, here's my take on it, examining whether it's a return to the more overt prog of Crack The Skye or whether it's something...different.

https://momentstransition.wordpress.com/2017/04/26/mastodon-emperor-of-sand-2017/

[Jeremy Bender]

I love the new album, it's very well-produced, the songs are tight and catchy and even though they'll probably never top Crack the Skye, that's OK. As I mentioned in another thread, I saw them live at the Hollywood Palladium last Thursday (4/20 heh heh heh heh X)) and they were incredible. 95 minutes of non-stop music, no effing power ballads or any of that crap, just a blizzard of killer riffs, rhythms and melodies. Brann Dailor was astonishing on drums, he constantly played great parts that both complemented and drove the music forward. And they're still more "progressive" than a bunch of the bands that get lauded on here.

[Scrotum Scissor]

And they're still more "progressive" than a bunch of the bands that get lauded on here.

But surely not more than Marillion, Porcupine Tree or The Musical Box?! Only more than Thinking Plague, Cardiacs, Art Zoyd and Albert Marcoeur, right? At least on Crack the Skye?

[Valen]

I love the new album, it's very well-produced, the songs are tight and catchy and even though they'll probably never top Crack the Skye, that's OK. As I mentioned in another thread, I saw them live at the Hollywood Palladium last Thursday (4/20 heh heh heh heh X)) and they were incredible. 95 minutes of non-stop music, no effing power ballads or any of that crap, just a blizzard of killer riffs, rhythms and melodies. Brann Dailor was astonishing on drums, he constantly played great parts that both complemented and drove the music forward. And they're still more "progressive" than a bunch of the bands that get lauded on here.

That's interesting that you rated them so highly live. I caught them on the Crack The Skye tour, and came away rather underwhelmed. Musically it was fine, although the vocals were a bit rough, but there was zero interaction with the audience beyond Troy Sanders occasionally waving to them. No atmosphere at all, and only a 75 minute set, despite being the headliners in a venue with no time curfew, so there was no obvious reason not to play a couple more numbers.

That experience almost put me off them, and it was quite a while before I bothered to check out the albums that followed.

But the new album continues to grow on me, and based on your recent experience I might be tempted to try them live again. Excellent setlist too - no wonder you enjoyed that show!

[Score2112]

I love the new album, it's very well-produced, the songs are tight and catchy and even though they'll probably never top Crack the Skye, that's OK. As I mentioned in another thread, I saw them live at the Hollywood Palladium last Thursday (4/20 heh heh heh heh X)) and they were incredible. 95 minutes of non-stop music, no effing power ballads or any of that crap, just a blizzard of killer riffs, rhythms and melodies. Brann Dailor was astonishing on drums, he constantly played great parts that both complemented and drove the music forward. And they're still more "progressive" than a bunch of the bands that get lauded on here.

Seeing them next week, can't wait. Agree on the new album...Steambreather is an amazing tune, in particular.

[Jeremy Bender]

But surely not more than Marillion, Porcupine Tree or The Musical Box?!Good God you're boring, you Oslo loon. :roll Here, you can add these two neo-prog bands to your list the next time you drop in to a thread to snark that I like Porcupine Tree more than some ludicrous obscure drummer who isn't even as good as Animal on The Muppets: IQ and Twelfth Night with Geoff Mann.


there was zero interaction with the audience beyond Troy Sanders occasionally waving to themYeah, I can see that, they're not big on the whole "Hey Los Angeles! How ya doin' tonight! Are you ready to ROCK?!?!" thing. They play 90-minute-ish sets, you might have just caught them on a bad night.

Here's an interesting article about them. http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-ms-mastodon-20170418-story.html


The album was made in 2016 during an ongoing period of darkness and grief following a breast cancer diagnosis for the wife of singer-bassist Troy Sanders. Singer-drummer Brann Dailor’s mother had been chronically ill for years. Then guitarist Bill Kelliher’s mother died of cancer during the writing sessions in Atlanta.Wow.

[Finch Platte]

I saw the latest Hammer mag in B&N today. Has a story on these guys, along with a track from the new disc on the enclosed free CD.

Don't know why I didn't pick it up, guess I was feeling kind of meek. :roll

http://teamrock.com/news/2017-03-10/brent-hinds-mastodon-is-our-therapy

[Scrotum Scissor]

Good God you're boring, you Oslo loon. :roll Here, you can add these two neo-prog bands to your list the next time you drop in to a thread to snark that I like Porcupine Tree more than some ludicrous obscure drummer who isn't even as good as Animal on The Muppets: IQ and Twelfth Night with Geoff Mann.

Yes, your heartfeltly insightful and extremely knowledgeable analysis of Yoshida's talents and merits sure counts far more than that of, say, John Zorn or Wayne Horvitz. I mean, who are they? Mastodon's Brann Dailor is a Ruins fan, btw - I suggest you contact him about how that shouldn't be and can't possibly add up according to your impeccable logic.

Do you prance around with a self-composed dictionary as well? "Original", "obscure" - such terms and concepts tend to take on wholly new definitions and implications when you appear. Is a name "obscure" once you yourself aren't acquainted with it? Please explain how Mastodon are so "more 'progressive' than a bunch of the bands that get lauded on here". I know it's boring, yet with the certainty of your assessment I'm sure you can teach it off quite easily. And Twelfth Night with Geoff Mann, that's juicy! :up

[chalkpie]

Not a fan of this stuff. It's not horrendous, but it just sounds like cliché prog meddle. Is this one of their good albums?

[aith01]

Not a fan of this stuff. It's not horrendous, but it just sounds like cliché prog meddle. Is this one of their good albums?

It's not my favorite by them (even though Mike Keneally plays keyboards on the last track!), but I'm not a huge Mastodon fan so I may not be the best authority anyway. Personally, I liked Once More 'Round the Sun the most out of the stuff I've heard by them.

They've got a definite sound -- being called "sludge metal", I believe -- and as Richard pointed out, their drummer Brann Dailor is a fan of Ruins (and presumably Yoshida Tatsuya). He's also a fan of Phil Collins and has said that he's probably his favorite drummer. That instantly raises him several rungs in my book. :)

Not sure I'd really call them "prog", myself. Maybe sludge metal with proggy touches? But what does that even mean?

[Scrotum Scissor]

Ah yes, the legendary 'Muppet' thread.

Luckily for some it's still perfectly possible to enable a parallell PE identity without it being particularly noticed and then simply pretend that nothing ever happened. Life is great and even getting either better or fantastic. :up

As for Mastodon, they're... Ok.

[aith01]

Ah yes, the legendary 'Muppet' thread.

Luckily for some it's still perfectly possible to enable a parallell PE identity without it being particularly noticed and then simply pretend that nothing ever happened. Life is great and even getting either better or fantastic. :up

Yeah, those Muppet comparisons never get old. Especially when the comparison is to some obscure, ludicrous drummer. And by "obscure", I mean that I don't know who they are so they must be obscure. Right?

:lol

Haven't seen anything from ol' Jeremy B. in a while though. I wonder if he still hangs around here.



As for Mastodon, they're... Ok.

I actually saw Mastodon back in 2014 in Nashville, somehow. Gojira opened for them too. I'm not really a fan of Gojira -- the music is fine I suppose, but I can't get into those vocals. However, I really enjoyed Mastodon. I guess one factor that distinguishes them for me is that a lot of their stuff seems to have a looser, more groove-based feeling than what I normally hear in metal bands. Maybe that's the sludge?

[Mascodagama]

I preferred the first three albums when they were more about the sludge metal and less about the "progression" (though the third album is a fairly good balance between the two). On those early records they excelled at being fast, heavy but still ambitious enough in their songwriting to keep things fresh. The next couple of albums seemed to lose much of the heaviness in favour of not very interesting progressive faffing about and I basically stopped bothering with them after that.

[chalkpie]

The only reason I was remotely interested in this is that the main dude from Banger TV placed this album as one if the best metak albums of the decade. I'm not hearing that. Maybe one of their earlier albums is more to my liking? I love extreme metal, sludge, growl vox, etc etc nothing "scares" me....but this kind of bored me. Imo.

[Scrotum Scissor]

^ Leviathan, their second album, still holds up. But don't expect Unexpect or Car Bomb or Meshuggah or Crowpath or PsyOpus or anything. Mastodon are more about melodic stoner metal than anything attemptively "out" progressive - or anything extreme, for that matter.

[aith01]

Mastodon are more about melodic stoner metal than anything attemptively "out" progressive - or anything extreme, for that matter.

Yeah, that's a very good description. :up

[julioscissors]

^ Leviathan, their second album, still holds up. But don't expect Unexpect or Car Bomb or Meshuggah or Crowpath or PsyOpus or anything. Mastodon are more about melodic stoner metal than anything attemptively "out" progressive - or anything extreme, for that matter.

"Stoner metal" is a perfect description for them. I can attest that "The Last Baron" was played on loop whenever I was rolling with my smoked up pals. Killer track - even when not baked.

[FKYES]

This was just posted on you tube. Great short set.

https://youtu.be/RFx8PADeZzY

[luvyesmusic]

I spotted a customer today proudly wearing a new MASTODON hoodie. A rare sight indeed, but not unexpected as I read this thread a couple days ago and explored me some MASTODON the next day.

We talked music in general for about five minutes, and as he's going to miss a bunch of cancelled shows this year, he's decided to buy more band merchandise instead. Great idea.

[Marco]

I think Mastodon are the Genesis of prog metal. Once the drummer began singing, they released a final decent record and then became laughably uninteresting.

[aith01]

I think Mastodon are the Genesis of prog metal. Once the drummer began singing, they released a final decent record and then became laughably uninteresting.

Uhhmm... Which Genesis are you talking about? :meh

[chalkpie]

I think Mastodon are the Genesis of prog metal. Once the drummer began singing, they released a final decent record and then became laughably uninteresting.

The drummer sang since Nursery Cryme.

[Mascodagama]

For some reason I'm now daydreaming about Brann Dailor drumming on the upcoming Genesis tour. That would certainly keep the old fellas on their toes.

[aith01]

The drummer sang since Nursery Cryme.

Yep, and he did a darn fine job of it too. His harmonizing with Pete was crazy good, to the point where sometimes they sounded like a different voice altogether. :up

Genesis are still my fave group, and I love all of their albums (yes, even FGTR ;)). "Domino" rocks too. :horns



For some reason I'm now daydreaming about Brann Dailor drumming on the upcoming Genesis tour. That would certainly keep the old fellas on their toes.

Now that would be interesting! He probably knows the material well enough. :D

[Marco]

The drummer sang since Nursery Cryme.

But not as a lead singer on most songs.

[chalkpie]

But not as a lead singer on most songs.

I have the albums - I know. As for them being uninteresting, that is your opinion - of which I hold the opposite view.

[Marco]

Agree to disagree. As a disclaimer, I love every Genesis album until Wind and Wuthering and every Mastodon album until Crack the Skye.

[aith01]

Agree to disagree. As a disclaimer, I love every Genesis album until Wind and Wuthering

Then you're missing out, IMO. Genesis had some fantastic music after W&W. |)

Side note: My band is currently doing a cover of "Abacab" and that song is a blast to play -- there's so much going on in it, but it sounds deceptively simple. We're doing it like the version from Three Sides Live, but without the extended jam outro.