Mastodon – Emperor of Sand
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Honestly I’ve only given Once More two complete listens. It failed to grab me at all. The other albums grew on me to the point I love them. This one has a lot of work to do though. If you go on their Youtube channel and watch the behind the scenes you see they’re are trying to recapture the magic of CTS and it shows in the first single. I’m really stoked for the new album.
Song is decent, but it doesn’t really sound anything like Crack the Skye. It sounds more like a tightened up version of their last 2 albums, especially Once More Round the Sun. Second half of the song sounds like Black Tongue again.
New song just released
Seems… uhhh. Dance-y? Decent guitar solo, but really seems like they’re not moving far from OMRTS
This one is weak sauce. It could go either way now. I don’t know why they push for those high notes that are on the brink of their range especially Troy. It sounds too forced
Actually just got “Show Yourself” in at my uni’s radio station. It’s the song the record company’s pushing for the album. Expect to hear it on your local rock/pop charts soon.
Can’t say I’m surprised. Sounds like they wrote that song just because it’s more likely to be a mainstream hit.
So what does everybody think of the new record? After a few listens I love it from front to back. Best one since Crack the Skye
Agreed that it’s their best since Crack the Skye, and there’s some strong tracks for sure, but as an old school Mastodon fan I’m honestly never going to be satisfied with their new watered down sound and they’ve done nothing to alleviate that with this album.
I’m not expecting guys in their mid 40’s to write music like they did 20 years ago. You have to appreciate it for what it is instead of what it isn’t.
I don’t think they’ve “faaaall-en froooo-om graaaaaaaa-ace” so to speak (not nearly as hard as Metallica or Megadeth did), but this album is definitely the best of their new stuff and seems like a natural evolution of Crack the Skye. More Brann in the songwriting process, more clean and harmonic vocals, more weird personal-mixed-with-fantasy lyrics (that are now easier to understand with the clean vocals). The synth section on “Clandestiny” is one of my personal favorite surprises of the album, and the closing track “Jaguar God” is probably my favorite song of the last three albums, and it’s certainly the proggiest they’ve put out in that timespan. “Jaguar God” also hints at those completely blindsiding riffs that give Mastodon a special place in my heart (though it still doesn’t reach the blistering peaks of “Megalodon”, “Capillarian Crest”, and “The Last Baron”, with a slightly slower pace than those songs’ fast sections and far more subdued drum tracks).
My only real regular skips on the album are “Show Yourself” (which has begrudgingly wormed its way into my head – hope it pays their bills well enough) and “Steambreather”. On another note, “Sultan’s Curse” gets props for being the most fiery opening track since “The Wolf Is Loose”. No band tops 2-3 great albums at their peak, but I’m more than happy that Mastodon is still relevant and putting out decent new music.
After seeing them live right before the Once More Around the Sun tour where they just played all there old classic and deep cuts I decided that show could be topped and retired from Mastodon concerts. After this new album I’m gladly seeing them next week in LA. I will also be releasing the entire album eventually.
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