Frolicking about in the forest, our hearts quicken as we prepare to flee from a mythical beast known only as The Hunter...
#6
Mastodon - The Hunter
“Yeah man, the new Mastodon album is okay,” a perpetually carping “fan” confides to me, “but it’s too accessible.” Forget you and your hipster
pals, man. This album kicks your skinny-jean clad arse, dude. The great thing
about holding the esteem of not only metaldom but the entire rock scene (and
TIME magazine, for that matter) is that any ludicrous idea is welcomed as
genius. For Mastodon’s wily fingered rhythm section, meat and potato chops
sound just as thrilling as Drop-C pentatonic reverse whatever-the-hell, room
filling simplicity as good as polyrhythmic pretentiousness. Mike Elizondo
teases every unpolished burr from the frets of each of these scruffy Southerners, every
song lending itself to the concept yet standing triumphantly alone. Swampy and
booze-soaked (possibly dope enthroned?) swagger abounds on Curl of the Burl and wondrous, trance-like corridors open up as
Troy Sanders’ nasally chants “You’re on fire!” in Stargasm – so convincingly may I add, after a few tokes you’d pat
down your legs just to make sure. Bill Kelliher confidently soars
full-throated on the theatrical Octopus
Has No Friends; theramin nuttiness and robotic apparitions pierce
through the space rock gem Bedazzled
Fingernails meanwhile richly layered guitars on The
Sparrow build up so deftly and seductively there’s only one option left once the
disc is over. Press play again.
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The Top 10 of 2011
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