First Impressions
We have finally come across a Mastodon album that I can say I didn't fully enjoy. While this was not terrible, I'd say not even bad, it was definitely a bit of a disappointment.
Let's see. This was right in between Crack The Skye and Once More 'Round The Sun. It's placement between those two is honestly perfect. The sound of this album reflects the transition from complex and grand songwriting to catchy and tighter. But it is most definitely a transition album, where there were too many cracks and imperfections in the change they were trying to do for me.
The main problem of this album is that the songwriting is just not very memorable to me. They get halfway there in everything. They'll write a riff that's almost cool enough, a chorus that's almost catchy enough. But they never quite get there. Everything feels too muddy here. Songs get blended into each other, and even some of the more quirky things they do like playing in major modes or Brent doing his little bajo-isms on guitar just feel more out of place and weird than tastefully odd.
That's not to say I didn't enjoy a few songs from here. Curl of the Burl is the only songs that reaches Once More 'Round The Sun's bar of super catchy choruses and melodies with some pretty fun riffs. Brent's voice absolutely fits it more than anyone could, and that's cool cause he usually doesn't get a lot of the catchy songs.
The Hunter and Thickening were ones that definitely grew on me. They are quite slow, and I thought this was agonizing the first few listens. But after a bit, they settled, and I can definifely appreciate them now. They are very trippy and psychedelic. I've always equated Mastodon to like, Tool if they were faster and more agressive, and these songs honestly remind me of it a little bit. With very spacey vibes, entrancing vocal lines and a pretty tasteful solo in the title track.
All The Heavy Lifting feels more in line with Emperor Of Sand. Still catchy, that chorus is amazing. The verses are a little muddled, but they are still quite good and go a little harder, it was a nice combination.Spectrelight is the heaviest song of the album, and this is done well. I usually think their heavier stuff needs to REALLY go hard if it's gonna hit, and while this is not anything that you'd hear on Leviathan, it's still pretty damn headbangable with a good main riff.
But the highlight of the album for me is Bedazzled Fingernails. One of the weirder songs of the album. See? I don't dislike odd, but it's gotta be done well. And this is just so good. The main riff is super funky and groovy, always moving and gives the song a really fast vibe even if the tempo is slower. And the chorus is so cool, catchy but trippy and almost triumphant while holding melancholy. I've noticed Troy usually gets these choruses. It reminded me of Clandestiny.
And that's about it for the highlights. The rest of the songs, again while not bad, they're just not up to par with anything else I've listened to from them. Even the best songs here barely match up to the middle songs from the other albums. I'll come back to them sometimes, I'm sure, but definitely not as often as the other three albums I've heard.
I'm glad at least this served as a stepping stone to Once More 'Round The Sun, which is absolutely what this album was going for. It was a good building block for a changing sound. And while it's going at the bottom of my list for now, I'm glad it payed off in the long run.
Ranking
Bedazzled Fingernails
All The Heavy Lifting
Curl Of The Burl
Thickening
The Hunter
Stargasm
Spectrelight
Dry Bone Valley
Black Tongue
The Sparrow
Octopus Has No Friends
Blasteroid
Creature Lives
Rating