IN REVIEW: Mastodon - "Once More 'Round The Sun"

By freeing themselves from their self-imposed concepts and opening up to a whole world of sonic possibilities, Mastodon sounded energized and eager to explore on 2011's The Hunter. The results were sometimes unexpected, and longtime fans were quick to dismiss the album's more "radio friendly" moments, but I found it consistently engaging and far more rewarding than most gave it credit for.

Once More 'Round the Sun picks up where The Hunter left off, but only insomuch as it also eschews a larger narrative in favour of a well-rounded, diverse album. It's lazy to simply call it a continuation, though; it's more a refinement of the exploratory spirit they conveyed on that previous album. There isn't anything that screams out as a bid for airplay such as, say, Curl of the Burl, nor a shocking sonic left turn as Creature Lives. That's not to say OMRTS isn't accessible or experimental, it's just that the songs on the album seem somewhat focused toward a sense of cohesion that The Hunter didn't really have.

More to the point, this album is the product of maturity; just one listen to opening pair Tread Lightly and The Motherload reveals a band that's learned a lot in its first decade plus, and applied its lessons appropriately. These are songs that are quintessentially Mastodon, swirling and busy prog-metal at their heart, but free to explode into majesty whereas a younger version of the band would have preferred to pummel and suffocate. The Motherload's chorus yields an especially large payoff that is only matched by that of Ember City later in the album. Then, there's lead single High Road, a baby brother for Blood and Thunder that shows less teeth but more range.

The title track exhibits, of all things, kind of a Foo Fighters vibe, albeit Foo Fighters as filtered through Mastodon. Aunt Lisa shows a little Queens of the Stone Age influence before perhaps the album's most striking moment, as The Coathangers show up to take the track home cheerleader style. And closing track Diamond in the Witch House is absolutely massive, making use once again of Neurosis main man Scott Kelly (thus, debut album Remission remains the only Mastodon studio album to not feature him). However, perhaps the album's finest overall song is Asleep in the Deep, a seemingly effortless epic that combines all of what makes Mastodon great into one (relatively) concise track; it's as though we're hearing a play-by-play of Mastodon's career highlights in six minutes, and it's glorious.

The prevalent feeling that keeps coming back as I listen to the songs on Once More 'Round the Sun is that, as much as they play around with different moods and textures, they remain undoubtedly and overwhelmingly Mastodon. As many pale imitations reside within metal's ranks, Mastodon has a sound that's theirs alone, and Once More 'Round the Sun, perhaps more so than any other album they've created, is a clear definition of what that sound is.

June 24, 2014 • Reprise

Highlights The Motherload • High Road • Asleep in the Deep

Year in Rock 2025

Alright, I've got some explaining to do. By now anyone who's visited this blog is well aware of how infrequently I've used this space in recent years; aside from the occasional fertile year of content, I really haven't posted all that often over the last five years or so. There are many reasons for this, which have already been outlined in previous apology posts; but, essentially, it boils down to my own laziness and the cold reality that blogs are, like Refused (again), fucking dead. So, I wouldn't hold my breath for a triumphant return to reviews, or even semi-regular posts, but: a) I feel like Year in Rock posts have always belonged here and, even though I've experimented with different methods of presentation recently and been satisfied, the "blink and you missed it" unveiling via Facebook stories this year was perhaps ultimately a disservice to the records I lauded. After all, cramming the list into short videos isn't too far off from ju...

Year in Rock 2011 Nominee: Sam Roberts Band

SAM ROBERTS BAND I Feel You From: Collider Released: May 10 Having already endured the breakout success ( Brother Down was Canada's it rock song of 2002), the tentative dabbling in the U.S. market, as is the rite of passage for all moderately successful Canuck artists (2003's debut We Were Born in a Flame was the best time to try; one of the best albums of the year, it made a small dent in the American mindset upon its release there a year later), the difficult, druggy third album (the aptly named 2005 disc Chemical City ), and the subdued creative step backward (2008's Love at the End of the World , aside from hit single Them Kids , was really kinda bland), it seems according to script that Sam Roberts would start settling in on his fourth album (and first with the band credited as equal contributors), Collider (you know, I think it was a bad idea to give me brackets). Well, as far as settling in goes, Roberts does and doesn't on Collider . W...

IN REVIEW: Rancid - "Trouble Maker"

As far as punk rock goes, it's hard to name a hotter hot streak than the trio of records Rancid cranked out between 1995 and 2000; the star making ...And Out Come the Wolves , the far-reaching Life Won't Wait and their balls-to-the-wall second self-titled album solidly positioned Rancid as leaders of the second generation of punk. It also preceded a period of slow progression, as Rancid would take eleven years to release their next three records. By the time ...Honor Is All We Know came in 2014, many fans (myself included) had to wonder whether or not this was the end of the road. Such concerns are handily dealt with on the closing track of the standard edition of their ninth record, the positively punishing This Is Not the End . Well, okay then, that's sorted. Now, what of this new record? What do we make of the use of their original logo on the cover, a logo that hasn't graced a Rancid record in 25 years? Is this a throwback to the band's heyday, a new begin...

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