Mastodon

[Goose]

"Black Tongue", a "leaked" track from Mastodon's not-yet-out album The Hunter, has hit the internets. 

I like.  They've got a very particular brand of prog-metal insanity that's all their own.  Almost like a metal version of Yes in some ways (especially on their last album, Crack The Skye).

Someone else here has to be digging what these guys are dishing out.

[tim]

Yes - I love Mastodon. I thought Leviathan was brilliant, was really disappointed by Blood Mountain, and absolutely blown away by Crack The Skye.

If you like Mastodon, I also recommend Neurosis, and Gojira. And, if as I do you love the drumming on Mastodon and also love heavy music, I recommend Decapitated too (start with their fourth album, Organic Hallucinosis).

Am very much looking forward to the new album. Not sure if I want to spoil it by listening to individual tracks first.

[Goose]

My biggest problem with this area of metal is that I can't stand cookie-monster style vocals.  At all.  Its really rare that I find some music that is so bloody awesome I can get past that, and its usually when that vocal style is used more as a dynamic accent rather than the full vocal style.  So, while Crack The Skye is totally fucking amazing, I've tried some of Mastodon's earlier material and ended up chucking it away (can't remember specifically which album(s) I tried).

Other examples:
- Devin Townsend's solo work/DTB/Project are awesome.  Strapping Young Lad I just can't get into.
- Between The Buried And Me are wicked awesome until their singer opens his throat.  Then I can't hit the stop button fast enough.  Same with Soilwork.
- Same with Cradle of Filth.  Dude sounds like a fucking cat being strangled.
- My first attempt at Opeth a few years ago did not go well.  I've been meaning to give them another shot, but haven't got around to it, and can't see my opinion changing too much.

I've heard the names of those bands you mentioned thrown around a bit, but haven't had the chance to actually hear anything by them yet.  Thanks for the tips!

[tim]

Neurosis has a mixture of vocal styles. A Sun That Never Sets is a good place to start, although I think their best album is their last one, Given To The Rising. Terrorizer magazine, one of the few music magazines whose reviews are worth reading, described them as the most influential band of the last twenty years.

Gojira have vocal range too, although not as much as Neurosis.

Decapitated are definitely in throat territory. There is a chance they are so awesome you may be able to get past it, though.

Cradle of Filth has awful, awful vocals. This position is held unanimously by everyone who has ever liked any type of metal. Strangled cat is spot on. I don't know Between The Buried & Me, but I don't like the vocals on Soilwork either - a bit nu metal for me. I think Opeth are a bit over-rated. They're not as prog as everyone makes out.

Some videos to whet the appetite:

Neurosis:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4jT7br5m1c

Gojira:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2rLuTJzaKQ&feature=related

Decapitated:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvzfVrq-g3M

[Goose]

Thanks for that tim!

[doom]

a lot of people who like Mastodon, seem to also like the band Baroness.

Opeth's best work, in my opinion, is Ghost Reveries. If you can't get past that album, I really wouldn't suggest digging any deeper. Haven't we spoken about Porcupine Tree? Don't they fall in that Prog Rock Genre? I just got their latest album, The Incident, really, really great stuff (as always)

you also might like to delve into the Post-Rock scene, if you haven't already. There are so many great bands out there in that genre as well.

I need to give Crack The Skye another listen. The first time I listened to it, it didn't grab me as much as I wanted it to.

[sin]

I'm not really a big metal fan, but the friends I have who are really down with Opeth and Mastadon are all really into Bathory as well, if that's helpful.

[Goose]

a lot of people who like Mastodon, seem to also like the band Baroness.

Opeth's best work, in my opinion, is Ghost Reveries. If you can't get past that album, I really wouldn't suggest digging any deeper.

Good to know!

Haven't we spoken about Porcupine Tree? Don't they fall in that Prog Rock Genre? I just got their latest album, The Incident, really, really great stuff (as always)

you also might like to delve into the Post-Rock scene, if you haven't already. There are so many great bands out there in that genre as well.

Yes, we have spoken of Porcupine Tree, who are fucking awesome.  I've got the DVD-A versions of their last four albums, they're all bloody genius.

As for post-rock, I've heard that term used to describe a variety of different things.  I usually associate it with the likes of Sigur Ros and Godspeed You! Black Emporer, both of which are also bands I'm definitely enjoying.

But anyways, back to Mastodon.  New song.  Personally, I like the direction, seems like a step forward towards what I like about their music compared to the old growly slammy stuff, which is a serious plus for me.  But, I'm also not well-versed in their repetoire for obvious reasons.

I need to give Crack The Skye another listen. The first time I listened to it, it didn't grab me as much as I wanted it to.

I highly recommend doing that.  It can be a pretty dense listen the first time around, and the timing of their instrumental work is such that it doesn't completely seem like its as together as it should be (to an untrained ear, some of it can just sound like pure cacaphony, with each instrument seeming to do its own thing without any respect to any of the others in the band), but once you find/understand the groove, it all comes together gorgeously.

[doom]

since I've been on such a Porcupine Tree, Type O Negative, etc. "kick" lately, Crack The Skye sort of just fell into place if you would. It might have been the timing of the first time I listened to it and the extreme amount of hype the album was getting at the time, but I actually listened to the album 3 times today at work.

some of the guitar work sort of reminded my of Omar's style from The Mars Volta, very sporadic, and "hey, look at what im doing!", but in a good way, of course.

Also, what have you listened to by Between the Buried and Me? I really didn't appreciate much of their older work too much, but once they did their Anatomy Of (covers album), and beyond, I started liking them a hell of a lot more.

"Heavier" Post Rock you might enjoy:

-Red Sparowes (thats how they spell it)
-Russian Circles
-If These Trees Could Talk

[tim]

Red Sparrowes are actually a Neurosis side-project!

I haven't been able to get into Bathory for some reason. Maybe I'll try again.

[doom]

Red Sparrowes are actually a Neurosis side-project!

thats interesting to know! makes me want to check them out now.
i just caught that, but looking further into it,
it appears the guitarist, who was also in Neurosis isn't with Red Sparowes any longer.
their newest album doesn't seem to quote him on it. (Josh Graham)

it does have a member from Isis  remaining though, which is still pretty sweet.
though at one point, it was two members.

[tim]

Yeah, looks as if they have evolved into a full-time project and discarded some old members. Their first two albums were on Neurot Records, which was a label set up by Neurosis to release their various side-projects. But they seem to have expanded it instead of releasing new music (they're pushing for a longer-than-nonsober-Trent gap since their last record) & it now includes bands like Final & Current 93 as well as all the Neurosis-related acts.

[Naylzie]

Blast!  I was catching up on things and rather liking the direction of this thread (Nice to know I'm not the only person out there who's put off by the "cookie-monster style vocals,"  best description of it I've seen!), but the track has been pulled from the source.  Guess I'll just queue up this Crack the Skye and see what it's all about.  Thanks for the discussion, gents, I'd probably not have given it a go if you hadn't gotten all in-depth discussing metal aesthetics. 

[Goose]

Apparently the leak's been plugged, but the band put out an official version on YouTube yesterday.  Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwgqenxNUfs

[tim]

I caved after seeing the release date wasn't until the end of September.

It's ok - I like it but I can't tell how much until I hear it in context. It has more of a late-90s Scandinavian melodic death metal vibe than most of Mastodon's stuff.