The Atlanta-based prog-metal squad, MASTODON, released two awe-inspiring albums in the early 2000s, “Remission” (2002) and “Leviathan” (2004), and while these two monoliths no doubt helped pave the way for the band’s later arena-sized success, I reckon it was their 2006 endeavor “Blood Mountain” that did most of the heavy lifting before the band’s brilliant magnum opus, “Crack the Skye,” finalized the deal in 2009. I was blissfully unaware of this band at the time; it was not until the band’s nuclear masterpiece detonated in 2009 that I fell in love with them and started to trace the evolution of their haunting sound back to these earlier albums. So, in retrospect, it seems almost a bit awkward that “Leviathan” is still held in somewhat religious regard in the metal world, because – let’s be honest here – amongst the band’s pre-2009 endeavors, that shiniest spot belongs to “Blood Mountain,” no questions asked. Yeah, sure, these two albums do have a lot in common – ex-MINUS THE BEAR character Matt Bayles in the role of the producer, for starters – but this 2006 endeavor did everything just a little bit better: the band’s songcraft turned out to be more refined, their signature prog polyrhythms more precise, and the vocal performances by Brent Hinds and Troy Sanders had improved remarkably from those previous efforts. Plus, the epic storytelling, which drew from Herman Melville’s famous 1851 novel Moby Dick on the previous album, remained intact even though there was no obvious literary inspiration this time around; the white whale gave way to an equally huge concept – the conquering of a mountain.
The album kicks off with a straight-up punch in the face. “The Wolf Is Loose” begins with an almost hardcore/punk footing, but the song’s punk feel is quickly bulldozed over by Brann Dailor‘s otherworldly drumming. I mean, I have yet to come across a punk band with a drummer of THIS caliber! The clockwork drumming paired with the rapid-fire sludge riffs and vocal grunts tempts me into thinking that if there ever was a genre called progressive punk, I think MASTODON‘s early material would fit the bill to a degree. At face value, the raw energy of punk and the technical prowess of prog may seem like mutually exclusive traits, but these Atlanta rogues have shown time and time again that it’s actually a very potent mix. I’m not exactly a guru on the early history of sludge and post-metal, but I reckon some of the pioneering bands started as crust-punk outfits – NEUROSIS, for example. Speaking of which, one of their three founding members, Scott Kelly, features as a guest vocalist on the next track, “Crystal Skull,” a song that unfolds almost like a vintage IRON MAIDEN banger dipped deep in some highly potent concoction of various South American hallucinogens.
After the high-octane punch-ups delivered by the album’s first two tracks, “Sleeping Giant” drops the tempo down a bit, but without losing an ounce of intensity. There’s something utterly captivating in the band’s signature mix of psychedelia, stoner riffs, and prog, even when they aren’t dashing forward at high speed. In this song, the atmospheric side of ISIS meets the stoner-doom riffs of REZN, and this combo is filtered through the band’s signature sludge filter. Three songs into the album, I would already dub “Blood Mountain” a masterpiece, and the next track only further confirms this.
As I was introduced to the band’s music through “Crack the Skye,” before backtracking to this fine beast, the mind-bending math-metal riffage entitled “Capillarian Crest” did not take me by surprise, but I reckon, in 2006, it might as well have; the serpentine riffs in this monster of a track served as a nice foretaste of what the band would serve even more liberally on that 2009 magnum opus. I mean, as groovy as the riffs in the jazzy instrumental, “Bladecatcher,” are, they are no match for the quantum origamis in this magnificent beast. And speaking of riffs, I think it was a rather ingenious move from the band to put the three most serpentine riffers in a row – first “Capillarian Crest,” then “Circle of Cysquatch,” and finally, “Bladecatcher.” That’s a pretty damn nice trio of mind-bending riffathons, I’d say. What makes it even better is that this three-in-a-row is followed by the album’s peak track – “Colony of Birchmen.” The song features Josh Homme (QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE) on guest vocals, and his signature crooning adds a nice new facet to MASTODON‘s sludgey riffing. The band could have put his haunting falsetto to good use, as well. As those later MASTODON endeavors would come to prove with Dailor‘s vocals taking on a more prominent role, clean vocals work particularly well in tandem with these riffathons, especially alternating between the grunts and belts of Hinds and Sanders.
After such a royal flush of bangers, the next couple of tracks felt at first as though delivering not that much by way of mind-melting riffs. However, when I listened to “Hunters of the Sky” or “Hand of Stone” in isolation, they turned out to be pretty damn good riffers. In a way, they serve as a transition phase from the high-octane riffers to the haunting, BLACK SABBATH-esque “This Mortal Soil” and the haunting, progressive banger “Siberian Divide.” The latter song features Cedric Bixler-Zavala of THE MARS VOLTA on guest vocals. For me, those septuple-meter guitar arpeggios were instantly reminiscent of the proggy motifs on “Crack the Skye,” when I first put this album on. While you may lose something, by way of surprises, when you proceed backwards in a band’s discography like this, you can see better where some of those signature quirks evolved from, which more than makes up for it.
Finally, the album is brought to a close with “Pendulous Skin,” which does not necessarily live up to the high standard set by the previous tracks. I mean, it’s a slow blues-rock piece thrown in just to conclude the album’s overarching story, I reckon – and it comes with an annoying “hidden track” attached to it, which you get to hear once you have waded through 17 minutes of silence. In this day and age, this horrible trend of hidden tracks is, luckily, over and done with. Still, even with this one skippable track, “Blood Mountain” remains an epic, psychedelic milestone in the band’s sonic evolution from serpentine sludge-riff machine toward an ever more progressive singularity.
Written by Jani Lehtinen
Tracklist
- The Wolf Is Loose
- Crystal Skull
- Sleeping Giant
- Capillarian Crest
- Circle of Cysquatch
- Bladecatcher
- Colony of Birchmen
- Hunters of the Sky
- Hand of Stone
- This Mortal Soil
- Siberian Divide
- Pendulous Skin
Lineup
Brent Hinds – lead guitars, vocals
Troy Sanders – bass, vocals
Brann Dailor – drums, vocals
Bill Kelliher – rhythm guitars, vocals
Label
Reprise
