Mastodon

Oblivion
$0.99

Call of the Mastodon
$14.98
I'm a huge Mastodon fan. I love the band, I love Brann Dailor's drums, and I love this album! I was ready to give it five stars immediatly just because it's Mastodon, but I stopped. I put myself into the mind of someone who has never listened to Mastodon before. I tried to imagine what a new buyer would be interested in.

The Pros:
- You get nine demo songs from Mastodon's early days. Five of these cuts appeared on the "Lifesblood" EP. Since Lifesblood was only printed for a limited time, it has become quite rare and sought after by Mastodon fans.
1. "Shadows That Move"
2. "Welcoming War"
3. "We Built This Come Death"
4. "Hail To Fire"
5. "Battle At Sea"

Four more that didn't appear on Lifesblood
1. "Thank You For This"
2. "Deep Sea Creature"
3. "Slickleg"
4. "Call Of The Mastodon"

- All cuts feature remastered sound (superior sound quality is a big bonus)

- It's Mastodon!

CONS

-The nine songs run less than 30 minutes in length.

-The Japanese version includes an extra live track "Where Strides the Behemoth"

-Despite being remastered the sound production isn't as good as Mastodon's other albums (Especially the vocals!)

The final verdict:

If you love Mastodon buy this album. Even if you own the EP, the remastered sound makes Call of the Mastodon worth buying.

If you are a newbie to the band start with Leviathan. If Leviathan turns you into a fan, get their other albums too.

Leviathan
$14.98
Mastodon is a one-of-a-kind metal band, and even though "Leviathan" was only their second album, it shows even here how promising they are to become one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Combining the thrashy edge of Metallica, the sludgy grooves of Down and the progressive complexity and technicality of Rush, there's no doubt that Mastodon has a sound both great and unique, and have continued to perfect it on this album.

Now honestly, at first I was about to give this album four stars instead of five, because some of the songs on the first half of the album sound fairly similar. However, when I think of all the riffs, technicality, passion, talent, and the fact that this music is an in-your-face middle finger to the sell-out bands, I know giving it less than five stars would be doing wrong.

Here are some of the tracks that stand out to me the most, personally. The opening track, the hardcore mosher "Blood and Thunder", is simply addictive with its brutal riffs and shout-a-long chorus, with a huge-sounding, spoken-word breakdown towards the end and some exotic guitar harmonies in the middle. One of the best metal sounds around today. Following it up is the speed-metal "I Am Ahab", short sweet and to the point, and done in a 6/8 time signature. Brann's drums are as crazy and intense as any jazz-fusion drummer, and the riffs are as technical as Rush at their finest. "Megalodon", the first song on the second half of the album, continues with the complexity and heaviness, yet also features a nice, yet random, country-sounding riff about a minute and a half in. "Hearts Alive" is a 13-minute epic, certainly one of the songs that stands out the most, and proves that the band is great at writing progressive-metal works of art. "Joseph Merrick" is the closing song, an instrumental ballad with a lush, psychedelic vibe and a fantastic way to end a great album.

So Mastodon has further improved their sound on "Blood Mountain" and "Crack The Skye", "Leviathan" still shows you that the band offers crunchy, complex music that is able to stand out from the mainstream scene and sound great. Highly recommended for fans of such aforementioned bands as Metallica, Down, Rush, etc. Buy it and split your speakers with blood and thunder! Thanks for the time, and peace.

Crack The Skye
$5.00
Just caught them on tour with Dethklok and the new album sounds AWESOME live!!! I was really impressed.