Mastodon - Emperor of Sand

After watching all 6 of those ',making of' videos for this new album :

Am I the only one who gets the feeling that Brent's not 'really' into the band? The way everyone talked all the time - and what they showed. It's like - he comes in to do his part - but - otherwise it just felt like he was Ace Frehly from the late 70's KISS - in the band... but not wanting to - or being asked to contribute much....

 

I listened the album, and I gotta say it's pretty bland, give it 3 listens but nothing really catch my ear, the riffs are average, nothing really shines, all songs sound very similar

It's the direction they took in The Hunter and OMRTS, but without stand out songs like "Stargasm" or "Ember City" or "Diamonds in the Witchhouse"

If the story about this originally being planned as a double album is true; one by Brent and another by the rest of the band, then, without Brent, Mastodon is a soulless band

 

Sorry, this is mandatory in any Mastodon thread.

 

Also, I can no long call them 'Progressive'. Sure, there are a few riffs on the album which are not 4/4 time, and maybe a time change one or two times - but otherwise it's all just straight ahead rock now. 3 listens myself as of last night now - and I could not name 1 song that I like better than the others - So far they are all - ok. There are some nice parts to some songs, but as a whole - I can't listen to any 1 song and say it's great all the way through. The formula is too generic, Brann sings, (which while an amazing voice) will kill the 'heavy' vibe the song had going.

I think it kind of confirms what I posted a few days ago - how it seems Brent wasn't really involved in the music process here - and just made himself available to do 'his work'.

 

Those interviews from a while back did make Brent sound pretty jaded. Which is a big shame, because he's fantastic when he's into it. In all likelihood it'll end up being another solid record, but you have to fear when band members are starting to tune out. Then again, maybe that's what they need at this point - put out a catchy album for some quick bucks, go their own ways for a while to do something different and engaging, and reconvene in a few more years for a record that is a true landmark. I'm not the biggest fan of say, the Tool method of having decades between albums, but you could imagine it keeping things more fresh and interesting than churning out another quick LP each year or two...

 

SHAKER FEST - just a few examples...

DO NOT LISTEN IF YOU WANT TO BE COMPLETELY SURPRISED BY THE NEW ALBUM

This contains some 10 seconds clips of a few songs

You might need to pay attention to just one ear... or both...

The shakers my be constant, or every beat, or just on the snare

But one thing is - they are unnatural and will continue steadily over top of drum fills and rolls.

 

buyer beware I guess

 

And the drums are all natural! No shakers... unless you count all those asses

 

I've heard it 3x and I dig every song. About half this album will expose itself fully for me after repeated listens and time. All I want to do hear it again. The last 2 tracks kind of left me speechless. Just awesome.

 

I'm not happy with the drum sound on this album (obviously with all my shaker comments) - but I think this album fits well with the last 2 albums song wise. Jaguar God does have possibly my fave riff of any Mastodon album - but it's only played a few times

 

I can see where your coming from with the shakers and stuff lol. Doesn't bother me though. Can't wait to hear this on vinyl !

 

Whereabouts can you hear the album?

 

Ouch!

Wow...

So. I preordered my LP of the album almost 3 weeks ago - here's what I was charged:



And here is what Amazon Canada is charging as of now:

 

Ugh! No dislike button, but that's certainly a nasty surprise. It had better be an exquisite LP for that money! I suppose it's unreasonable to expect the quality of the 45rpm releases, but at the very least you'd hope for it to be perfectly pressed, packaged and more. Hopefully that standard is achievable. I hope you are happy with what you get, and am already curious to hear your views on the LP!

 

Man I gotta say I wasn't blown away by this album a first, I had about 5 or 6 tunes I really liked at first. After a couple days with it I gotta say I'm loving every second. The songs seem simpler than before but they really open up after some time and I am finding more and more I love about it. I like branns vocals a lot and when Brent comes in it's even better. Lots of little nuances and bursts of complexity to my ears. Can't wait to hear a proper CD and LP soon.

 

I'm curious how long you've been a fan and what you're favorite albums of theirs are. My opinion is that their last two were soulless and uninspired releases and what I've heard from the new one is the same, or even worse.

 

I've been a fan since Leviathan. I can't see how anyone can say they are soulless now... Songs like the hunter and once more title track and asleep in the deep to name a couple. Halloween is a ripper too. They seem to be leaning towards a more retro 70s straight up prog rock yet more simple song writing. I enjoy all the vocals personally and welcome anything different.
Precious stones on the new one is incredible also IMO.

They've always been unpredictable honestly. We can't have I am ahab and March of the fire ants on every album. My only complaint is their mastering sucks a lot and the compression. I can really only listen to them on vinyl or highly EQd in the car. I think people just want more concept albums and more heaviness but heaviness can be found and expressed in many different ways besides sounding like March of the fire ants or whatever off the first 3 albums.

I find the soulless comment odd considering the subject matter and lyrics on the new one, musically there's a lot of depth too and quirkiness to boot which I like.

 

I'll chime in too. I was turned onto Mastodon I guess around Blood Mountain time by a friend at work. Hearts Alive from Leviathan became one of my fave songs ever. Played lots of Blood Mountain and Leviathan. Then Crack The Skye came out - and I bought the cd and hated it. Then they came to Vancouver - so went to see them live - and hated 90% of the show/music. The reason? It wasn't Leviathan or Blood Mountain.

The Hunter: Hated it. Once More 'Round: Hated it. Finally listened to Remission and Call Of The Mastodon in January and loved them!

It wasn't until this thread was started here - which happened to b a few weeks after I started buying all Mastodon on vinyl - that I decided for completeness I'll get the albums I don't like. Meh. They were ok I guess now. Since then, I've put on Crack, Hunter and Once more quite a bit - usually while I'm doing stuff around the house - even right now Hunter is spinning beside me. And I find myself enjoying them more. Crack is pretty great now in fact.

They are not Leviathan or Blood Mountain though, which I still wish they'd release another album like those.

Emperor, I've listened to about 10 times now. I'm going to wait until I have the LP to give a proper breakdown - but I333I - if I hadn't come around on their newer material in the past few months, I'd be sharing your feelings on most of the new material. If you truly don't enjoy the last few albums at all, I believe you'll find slim pickings here.

 

I can sort of see people disliking the hunter because there is some weird material on there that defies all genre classification. It certainly isn't metal or like anything off the first 3. I listen to it all the way through and I like octopus has no friends and creature lives. A good song is a good song I guess, maybe people think they aren't good songs I guess haha.

Once more is a great album IMO I listen to that all the way through. Really the only low point of it for me is feast your eyes but I like it too. The songs are strange and dabble in weird rhythmic structures and riffs I think the addition of Branns vocals is a turn off for die hard older material fans TBH. He has a Ozzy like quality IMO but it is very freaking poppy sounding also. I don't care though, if you listen to show yourself without vocals it's a much much meaner sounding song is the point I am trying to make.

 

I think it's not necessarily the fact that Brann is singing now that is turning people off, or even the oddball songs that they have been trying (like Creature Lives for example). For me, it's got more to do with the general sense that they were pushing themselves in terms of complexity and ambition on every release up to Crack the Skye, only to veer toward a consciously simpler, more hook-driven sound on the albums after that. They did state that touring Skye and playing those songs live was a drag, and that they pined for a simpler, more fun approach. That's understandable, and I think they have succeeded in making things a bit more fun and effortless for themselves on recent albums. However, I do think that doing so has disappointed some of the fans of old, who valued the ambitiousnesss of their explorations on those earlier albums. It's not that I am particularly offended by say, Curl of the Burl, and I do think that there have been great moments on the more recent albums, but I have not been overwhelmed by them as much as I was by say, Leviathan, Blood Mountain or Crack the Skye, and I do miss that.

The complexity and explorativeness thing to me is something different than heaviness. There is plenty of absolutely crushing stuff on say, Remission, but not everything is tremendously explorative or complex. It's the trilogy after that where they really began to push their music to new territories, with Crack the Skye for me being their undisputed pinnacle.

 

I'm pretty surprised at some of the hate they're getting in this thread. The samples I've heard sound great, and in 2017 we should all be thankful this band exists and is still cranking riffs out. This might be easier for me because I'm definitely a "music is the space in between the notes" kind of guy (or in the words of Brann in the 4th Making of..."vanilla is a powerful flavor."), but seriously there is just some plain soaring, epic rock in this thing if the samples are any indication.

 

That's sounds almost exactly like my story. Hated CTS when it first came out. Then warmed up to it. I must admit that I like about half of The Hunter but just could not get into Once...
I'll check it out again and at least give the new one a chance on Apple Music or something.

 

I'm glad that you're enjoying the new one. Thanks for your input. I just feel that Mastodon has stopped challenging themselves (and me as a listener), and that's why I liked them in the first place.

 

I really enjoyed their first three releases. They lost me after "Crack the Skye". Guess I'm not missing much by not hearing this release.