That’s not difficult to do now that Mastodon have finally mastered the art of writing 11 tracks that flow together as one. Nevertheless, if you’re partial to Mastodon’s longer, classical-influenced songs, you’re not going to see Emperor of Sand’s appeal-unless you zoom-out and take the album as one complete work. But the hooks had been lurking all along.
The transition to concise songs on 2011’s The Hunter might have come as a shock if you were a fan of the 13-minute rollercoaster suites that incorporated death, thrash, Southern, and traditional heavy metal. The band’s three lead vocalists-Hinds, bassist Troy Sanders, and drummer Brann Dailor-began to exchange death metal howls for increasingly melodic singing.
#MASTODON BAND CLANDESTINY LYRICS CRACK#
By 2009’s Crack the Skye, a concept album that revisits Tsarist Russia via Stephen Hawking, Mastodon’s lyrics had grown as lofty as the music. At the same time, Crack the Skye contained hints that a more tempered approach was coming. Over their first three proper full-lengths-2002’s Remission, 2004’s Leviathan, and 2006’s Blood Mountain-Mastodon flexed their chops almost like a sports team that had more to prove the more successful it got. But unlike the last album, Emperor of Sand’s balance tips back to what Mastodon built a reputation on. And if you’re wary of returning Crack the Skye producer Brendan O’Brien-famous for helming ’90s blockbusters by Pearl Jam and Stone Temple Pilots-you should know that, as usual, O’Brien smooths out some of the band’s angular edges. Second track “Show Yourself” starts out with a bouncy, almost danceable boogie-rock hook before reverting to one of Mastodon’s zig-zagging riffs. Be warned: If you see clean singing as a concession, you’re going to have issues with this album.
Opener “Sultan’s Curse,” for one, is a trademark Mastodon gallop that again shows guitarist/vocalist Brent Hinds doing his best impression of Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell. That’s not to say this new album isn’t stuffed to the gills with melodic singing-you can expect to hear a bunch of these songs on commercial radio this summer.
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