![]() Bless Raskulinecz and Mastodon for staying on target and giving home for another decade-plus of amazing work like this. It’s the kind of place where a band who are six albums and 14 years deep into a career should be. What glosses over those small, weird choices is the collective strength and sense of purpose found here. (A nod to Faith No More’s “Be Aggressive," perhaps?) But other times, as on “Aunt Lisa,” they clutter it up further with fellow Atlantans the Coathangers providing a cheerleader-style female chorus. They tend to be bits of synth wows used to complement the shift in guitar tones. Strangely, they only seem to feel comfortable using these small bits of weirdness in the bridge sections of songs or as they are speeding towards the end. This allows the band to play with effects to color in the edges of these 11 songs. The guitars, too, are balanced perfectly, with both six and four stringers melding together in the mix while still staying very much identifiable. Drummer Brann Dailor is given a prominent role his tom rolls dancing around the stereo field and his double kick-drum work storming through like a tank. Raskulinecz helps bring the punch back to these songs. Those that do meander do so briefly (the small coda on “Chimes At Midnight”) or with maximum impact in mind as on “Diamond In The Witch House,” the stirring collaboration with Neurosis’ Scott Kelly that closes out the album. They waste little time getting into the meat of a song, and have almost entirely ceased going off on unnecessarily discursive passages. ![]() Mastodons second full-length release, Leviathan, is a concept album based on the novel Moby-Dick by Herman Melville. The bands 2002 debut album, Remission, garnered significant critical acclaim for its unique sound. The directness that the band brought out on The Hunter is still very much a part of Once More ’Round The Sun’s playbook. Mastodon has released seven studio albums, as well as a number of other releases.
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