Time? The writing process had to do with band member's family members getting cancer and dealing with the process. If their first 4 albums are fire, water, earth, and air/ether, then Emperor of Sand would be. It's a welcome return to see the band get back to making a cohesive and sprawling theme album. I don't really have much of a concluding paragraph beyond "this is fairly below average and you're better off avoiding it". ![]() Maybe a brief, rather punky album was the way forward? Perhaps something in a far more traditional vein? Just 60 minutes of prog noodles, hire a keyboardist etc? A short, 30 minute blast of the mathiest, wankiest stuff they could play? Cmon dudes, it's not that hard to come up with something better. You've really gotta wonder why no one in the band, or the band's friends, etc etc decided that the clean vocals don't work, that the end result is basically vaguely proggy/hard to play stoner rock that no one is ever gonna remember. I get that Mastodon were perhaps sick of doing long form concept albums, but there's gotta be better ways to come down from that then stuff like this. I'm sure it's all fairly hard to play to guitar, and they put some thoughts into the arrangements and whatnot but it just sounds so incredibly blah. Vaguely techy guitar part- bunch of pointless vocals- brief jam (man, what happened to the drummer? he's never sounded less interested)- more pointless singing- perhaps a solo or two which no, you won't remember- rinse and repeat. But none of the Mastodon dudes sound as good as '91 Hetfield, and certainly none of them have the catchy songwriting chops of 91 Hetfield either. ![]() I'm not adverse to vocal heavy shit, the black album remains a favourite. ![]() The vocals aren't *terrible*, merely annoying, but they just clearly can't write interesting vocal lines or decent choruses to save their lives. Here, well, we've got a lotta high, kinda whiny, certainly aimless clean vocals- think Josh Homme but a lot worse- over the least interesting guitar parts Mastodon have ever done. All their best stuff, Capillarian Crest, all of Crack the Skye, most of Leviathan etc etc was about a bunch of cool guitar lines with a few sludge-ish "Aged nautical dude" kinda vocals thrown around to give it a bit of context. Suffice to say it's hard to imagine that these were the same guys that made all those cool records """"""back in the day""""""""""".Įssentially, Mastodon have become really vocal driven, which is far as decisions go is on par with invading Russia in the middle of winter. I'm not sure what I was expecting, as Hunter had a whole bunch of problems, and I never made it through Once More Round the Sun. Overall, its a good album which reflects more on its concepts and has huge emotional aspects in regards to the ideas portrayed. The album gets better with each listen, as the themes and story gets explored over time. Although, the song is more relevant when one hears the rest of the album because of its lyrical relevance. The most controversial part of the album is probably the track Show Yourself, in which the band takes a very mainstream approach in its structure, instantly making very catchy and also a subject to some divisions. The albums ends with, possibly one of the best song on the record, Jaguar God, which ties up the whole album very satisfyingly. The band has kept the very accessible sound, and combined it with a signature methods. The album is not as technically brilliant as some of their classics, but still possesses a vast construct and feels big enough to listen to. Songs like Andromeda, Steambreather and Sultan's Curse are classic riffs that the quartet are known to put out. The albums surely contains of a lot of riffs that are heavier than their last albums, and also are more memorable. Mastodon return to their heavy, riff-based roots along with their evergrowing progressive structures. The three vocalists have surely improved on their melodies, and the vocals can be considered as some of the best efforts they have put out in their discography. The lyrics provide a sense of exploration as the listener finds what the band means by them, and they work even better when interpreted according to the listener. A story is told once again here in an epic and orderly fashion. The lyrical contents of the album are inspired by the fragility of life and how time defines aspects of survival. The band works with producer Brendan O'Brien who also appeared with the band in their 2009 album Crack the Skye. ![]() It falls into a more progressive spectrum than their last two efforts. The seventh studio album by Mastodon is a concept album based on the concept of time and death, as the title hints.
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