Quote:
Originally Posted by Rainard Jalen
To be honest, after many subsequent listens, there's little fault to find with the album. I did at first think that the singing sounded a little too "corporate rock" for my tastes, but it's really not so bad. I think the corporate rock effect came about merely because the vocals are so markedly different to anything on any prior Mastodon record (read: Hinds and Sanders have clearly been spending the past 3 years in intensive singing lessons).
I guess my only real complaint with the album is that it's moved too far away from Metal. It has its heavy moments, sure, but the foray into more straight-up prog rock is somewhat of a surprise and not an entirely welcome one.
What I do respect is that Mastodon have once again shown they are not one of those bands who simply re-record the same album over and over again. They don't become entrapped in a formula like say Opeth, and as a result do not find their music suffering from the stultifying sameness so typical of many such metal bands. I salute the Mastodon.
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Well-said. I'm glad you gave it a couple more chances.
I, too, was thrown off with this album. Despite the lack of metal, this album is undoubtedly heavy. I've gotta disagree with the vocals sounding too "corporate rock". I feel like Mastodon has some of the best, most distinct voices out there. I've heard listeners assimilating Hinds and Sanders to vocals such as Staind and damnit, those are the listeners who I feel aren't
truly listening.
I appreciate their diversity of albums as well. I especially like that they're concept band. If you haven't checked out their DVD on Crack the Skye, I highly recommend it - especially if you're a musician. I do think they have a formula, though, and this is very obvious on the DVD when you see their every day routine, how they go about coming up with new beats, riffs, solos, minor sounds that ultimately become key in a song, etc. However, the fact that they allow this formula to evolve and not remain concret to a particular sound is what makes them great musicians.
Funny you mention Opeth because I really dig them, but they're sound became almost monotone to me after listening to Ghost Reveries. I think they redeemed themselves with Watershed. Yeah, they like sticking to that prog-metal sound, but I think that's why their fans listen to them. Let's admit it - we're all scared of changed, even when it comes to music.