subversion
Moderator
If there should be any shockwaves to be felt upon the release of Mastodon’s Leviathan, then it should be felt last year, as it was a 2004 release. This very much anticipated release, a follow up to the band’s very impressive, mountain flattening, Remission, is one mammoth attack any metal fan would revere. Before we reach the conclusion of 2005’s initial half, I urge every metal fan to check this release out.
Ever heard of ‘compound metal’? If there isn’t any to begin with, then Leviathan is the showcase of such an offering. The band is a metal phenomenon through & through, made intelligent by the liberal peppering of other musical genres you’d consider ridiculous to brew in a metal potpourri. Album highlight, ‘Megalodon’ is a killer track which would put other more established metal acts to shame by the sheer virtue of its complexity & intense arrangement, without losing focus. There’s a killer bridge section here which is punctuated by a country slide lick before the tune enters into a bass note chug frenzy. Nothing great you might say but the linking passage is a second’s worth of silence which was an intellectual slap in the face. I didn’t realize that a muted passage could be so deadly… What you’d hear from the whole offering, is a palette of very dynamic ideas, entwined without losing the metal essence, which the quartet profess in. A case of Black Sabbath meet Rush, to help you comprehend the brand of metal served here. The penultimate track ‘Hearts Alive’, has a 2 minute intro, a very cleverly restrained trick, employed to close proceedings.
Attention Gibson + Marshall fans, perhaps this is the tonal standard to adhere to if you endorse all things metal. Thick, distorted tones are the order throughout, nothing ill-defined but the drive here is a healthy blend of distortion & fuzz which I find impressive. The stellar performer in this release is drummer, Brann Dailor, whose speed, complexity & composure is near zen, parallel to what Morbid Angel’s Pete Sandoval would churn out, to propel the overall strength of the band. His brand of bashings gives equal billings to the hands & legs, unlike other clinical drummers whose leg work are often in access of what their hands can do.
Since being sucked into the black/ death metal black hole, I find other types of metal relatively repulsive as the bands who play them often do so to please their commercial label masters. It is a relief to know that there are bands like Mastodon out there, who don’t quite succumb to the rebellious metal of the notorious Norsemen, but whose music are exclusive enough to prohibit themselves from effectively becoming the mainstream.
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