5/9/2023 0 Comments Mastodon clandestinyKoch, 1843)Ī mastodon ( mastós 'breast' + odoús 'tooth') is any proboscidean belonging to the extinct genus Mammut (family Mammutidae) that inhabited North and Central America during the late Miocene or late Pliocene up to their extinction at the end of the Pleistocene 10,000 to 11,000 years ago. However, if this is what an indecisive Mastodon record sounds like, then-when they do finally decide on a new and/or solidified direction-they might just be capable of topping those records that loom so heavily over this one. This is the sound of Mastodon trying to work out exactly what kind of band they want to be, and what kind of legacy they want to leave. ![]() Yet, as a whole, this definitely feels like it’s a transitional record. All of its songs are great individually, and there appears to be a conscious effort by the band to pull their eclectic sound into one, complete package. Likewise, many of the transitions between the tracks feel sudden and often jarring, largely undoing the album’s conceptual flow and the record also seems to climax early on “Ancient Kingdom,” with the later numbers all more or less blending together, despite its distinct opening salvo.Īt the end of the day, Emperor Of Sand is a victim of its own success. This might not seem like a fair criticism, yet this album never winds up feeling like the “sum of its parts” so much as all of them put on collective display. Like the more straight-forward, almost-pop songs? Once More ‘Round The Sun has better ones. Like those weird, technical experiments that keep cropping up now and then? Blood Mountain is full of them. ![]() Like the crazy prog elements and ambitious concept? Great! Crack The Skye did it better. As good as each moment on this album is, there’s always a superior version to be found elsewhere in the band’s catalogue. All the excitement in the lead up to this record’s release has been based around the idea that it might have been a throwback to the Crack The Skye / Blood Mountain era.Yet looking backward has never been what Mastodon have been about, and it’s this retrospective outlook that forms the main fault with Emperor Of Sand. Conversely, Emperor Of Sand is a record with at least one eye set firmly on the past. Outside of, maybe, the jump from Leviathan (2006) to Blood Mountain (2009), each of the band’s albums have never really sounded like any other that came before it. However, Emperor Of Sand is the first Mastodon record that simply sounds like any other Mastodon record. Mastodon have always had a distinct and instantly recognisable sound. Besides the six-and-a-half-minute “Root To Remain” and the epic eight-minute closer, “Jaguar God,” 2 the rest of the album’s tracks hover around the more conventional three-to-five-minute mark, with the volatile “Steambreather” and upbeat, Queens Of The Stone Age-inducing “Show Yourself” recalling the best moments of Once More ‘Round The Sun. Songs like “Precious Stones,” “Word To The Wise” and “Ancient Kingdom” definitely recall that landmark record’s floating “(a)etherial” quality while tracks like “Clandestiny,” “Scorpion Breath” and “Sultan’s Curse” see the Georgians bringing a hefty amount of their early rawness to the table as well-with the latter opening a record with a riff not at all dissimilar to the distinctive grind of Lamb Of God’s “Laid To Rest.” Yet, while the record tonally evokes the band’s middle period, the compositions themselves more closely recall their recent efforts. However, it’s hard to imagine fans of Crack The Skye or any of Mastodon’s earlier work could be at all disappointed with this release. 1 Thus it was that, when news surfaced that the band would be reuniting with Crack The Skye (2009) producer Brendan O’Brien to work on a concept record about a journey through a metaphorical cancer desert, old and new fans alike, understandably, whet themselves in anticipation.Įmperor Of Sand was always going to have a tough time living up to such anticipation, and whether it has or not still remains to be seen. ![]() Their last two records, The Hunter (2011) and Once More ‘Round The Sun (2014), have been divisive among the band’s fanbase for various reasons, with many long-time followers accusing them of toning down their sound and doing away with many of the progressive elements that made them interesting in the first place. ![]() However, recently the Georgian four-piece have been treading on some shaky ground. For the better part of two decades now, Mastodon have been putting out bold, daring and critically acclaimed records, while simultaneously maintaining a constant presence within the broader popular consciousness-be that by way of failed movie soundtrack tie-ins, or repeated late show television appearances.
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