Over the last fifteen years, Atlanta, GA’s Mastodon has grown into one of the leading lights in contemporary heavy metal. As intelligent as they are massive, they took a significant step forward with their third album and major label debut. Recently reemerging on wax as the first in a yearlong vinyl reissue program of the band’s four efforts for Reprise, 2006’s Blood Mountain still holds up nearly a decade later. And for those itching for live music of the metallic persuasion, Mastodon is currently on tour; they play Baltimore’s Pier Six Pavilion on Saturday May 16th.
Mastodon is Brent Hinds and Bill Kelliher on guitars, Troy Sanders on bass, and Brann Dailor on drums. All the members contribute vocals, though on the LP considered here Hinds and Sanders deliver the lead work as Kelliher and Dailor provide the backing. They formed early in 2000, Kelliher and Dailor moving to Atlanta from New York and meeting Hinds and Sanders, the four bonding over the potent trifecta of Melvins, Neurosis, and Thin Lizzy.
The quartet has occasionally been mislabeled as a sludge outfit; there are fleeting elements fitting that description on Call of the Mastodon, the ‘06 compilation of the band’s formative stuff, but they are aptly ranked as a cornerstone in 21st century progressive metal. The trajectory begins in earnest with ‘02’s Remission.
It continued two years later with Leviathan, an outstanding record partially inspired by Herman Melville’s masterpiece of 1851 Moby-Dick, a connection easy to corroborate due to a song titled “I Am Ahab” and the cover drawing of a huge whale and a beleaguered boat in choppy seas. Up to that point Mastodon’s discography was issued in agreement with metal standby Relapse Records, but before Blood Mountain they paid a visit to the offices of Reprise.
Switching to a major is a reliably dangerous maneuver, even more so after an independent achievement as weighty as Leviathan. Just as ominous was Blood Mountain’s prevalence of guests, including lyrics/vocals by Neurosis’ Scott Kelly on “Crystal Skull,” the cello and violins of the Bella Trio on “Sleeping Giant,” vocals by Kyuss/Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme on “Colony of the Birchmen,” vocals by At the Drive In/The Mars Volta’s Cedric Bixler-Zavala on “Siberian Divide,” and organ and synth by the late Isaiah “Ikey” Owens on closer “Pendulous Skin.”
When a record has that many outside contributors it frequently signifies an attempt to replace diminishing inspiration with the surface gloss of hype, but exactly the opposite is the case here. Part of the reason is obviously the stylistic suitability of the guests, the disc unwinding minus any special spotlights shed upon the auxiliary. Plus, it helps that Mastodon are in full-on conceptual mode.
Leviathan was drawn from the work of a literary master, but Blood Mountain crafts a tale largely of their own making and is even better for it; sure, alongside a nod to early Genesis in “Colony of the Birchmen” (notably “The Colony of Slippermen” from The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, reportedly Dailor’s all-time favorite album) it recalls Iron Maiden, the musty fantasy paperback section of a well-stocked used bookstore, and specifically Joseph Campbell’s ludicrously influential text The Man with a Thousand Faces.
But for all the boldness of conception the LP’s success ultimately rests on its functionality as a pure listening experience. Like all great progressive music, studiousness is not required; just cue it up and let it spin. Furthermore, Mastodon isn’t at all conflicted over their metal background, with Blood Mountain unrelenting in its ferocity.
“The Wolf is Loose” explodes out of the gate, flaunting precision without sacrificing power, thundering forth via Dailor’s skills behind the kit; gargantuan yet fleet, his input is absolutely crucial, as are the propulsive bottom-end of Sanders and the teamwork of Hinds and Kelliher. And while the voices of Hinds and Sanders certainly solidify the metal trappings, the pair deserves kudos as legit vocalists.
After an opening smidge of industrial clatter, “Crystal Skull” quickly gallops forth with caustic riffs, chord tangles, guttural shouts, and bruising rhythm action. Late in the track, an understated groove is launched beneath blistering guitar. It leads into the moodier and more melodic “Sleeping Giant,” a piece integrating broader musicality without lessening the heaviness.
A pounding hook again arises during the cut’s midsection, tightness never undercutting intensity as the singing gets soulful and the soloing is terrific, but it’s toward the end of the sequence that an extra (subtle) boost finds the band firing on full prog-metal cylinders. “Capillarian Crest” picks up the pace and folds in some chunky angularity as Dailor goes nuts, Sanders throbs away and the guitar lines wiggle like cobras on amphetamine.
Just as torrid is “Circle of Cysquatch,” though throughout Black Mountain Mastodon maintain a grip on dynamic prowess. And I always enjoy when the effects-laden vocal materializes. However, lungs momentarily lay-out for “Bladecatcher” as it reaches jaw-dropping levels of exactitude, spinal-column shaking immensity, and even offers a tinge of spastic psychedelia.
To these ears, the meaty riffs of “Colony of the Birchmen” supply the LP its most tangible link to the metal groundbreakers of yore, and the mauling density and speed of “Hunters of the Sky” isn’t far behind. From there, “Hand of Stone” reengages with the pummeling, near spring-action momentum and the twin axe attack.
Mastodon’s Atlanta home base makes sense, for the combo of Hinds and Kelliher is at times slightly reminiscent of the multi-axe presentation favored by a few southern rock predecessors, and while they get mildly folky in the agreeable early moments of “This Mortal Soil,” the tune bulks up soon enough and culminates in borderline anthemic territory.
Blood Mountain’s final two entries expand a little, “Siberian Divide” deftly alternating melody (in context, of course) with the bludgeoning. It also features some of the best singing on the disc. And “Pendulous Skin” glides into an acoustic zone, fingerpicking interweaved with effects before kicking up a culminating mid-tempo psychedelic groove.
To emphasize how deep Mastodon’s conceptual weave was at this juncture, “Pendulous Skin” is the band’s third consecutive album closer relating to the topic of Joseph Merrick aka The Elephant Man. Some fans prefer Leviathan and others have championed ‘09’s Crack the Skye (the subsequent records have been less ambitious), but Blood Mountain sits at the heart of a truly impressive decade of work.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A
