keepers 5
keeper avg .385
This acclaimed album seems to have traded in the ambitions of concept and scope that made the previous album such a sprawling masterpiece for focused, tight arrangements. Fortunately, they have also traded in much of Sanders' screaming and Hinds' snarling for actual singing. And the dizzying but melodic riffs that I love are plentiful throughout, such as the intro of the swinging "Octopus Has No Friends"**** and the elegiac title song****. Not so much on "Curl Of The Burl", which seems like 'cranking out some mediocre head-banging bullshit' (to quote Spinal Tap). Every riff and melody is so bone-headed I don't recognize one redeeming quality (of course it's the first single I heard). Fortunately this misstep is a total anomaly. Opener "Black Tongue"**** is a head-banger from the first ringing note. Though "Blasteroid" isn't an amazing piece of music, the opening riff is like a stiff uppercut of happy and the deafening racket to follow (there is much screaming) is over before you know it. "All The Heavy Lifting" and "Spectrelight" also aren't flashy but manage to be solidly melodic and memorable. "Creature Lives"**** is the most fun Mastodon has been - it's "Iron Man" with a "Godzilla" (Blue Oyster Cult) wink. And closer "The Sparrow"***** is a masterpiece of spaghetti western guitars and a haunting incantation of 'Pursue happiness with diligence.'
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