Nah, overall I'd still say its good.

I just wish they would stop all the prog / clean singing bullshit and be the band that released Remission again.

Giving it another listen it's a bit better but I still would rather hear screaming or growling than singing on a Mastodon album.

Ever since a Mastodon interview I read in a guitar magazine a couple years ago, I've been put off. They talked about song construction and stuff, and basically said it was a business, and they came up with stuff that worked towards that end.

I fucken loved Mastodon until discovering thier music has more to do with marketable formulae than actual expression anymore. After reading that article, I'm not suprised they're starting to suck... what happened?

Well I'm with the gang here - the clean vocals thing is defintiely one of the problems. They should be singing the old way and using clean vocals as a change of pace. I didn't like that Isis did that on the latest album but really there aren't enough vocals to wreck anything significantly (I think that is a very good album actually). Neither of the vocalists in question are really all that good and are better off with growling, but in the case of Isis he sticks to about what he can do. Mastodon's vocalist is pushing himself too far and it is painful at times.

I am not too sure the music's that great this time around either. The band missing the urgency that was on their first two albums. It has its moments but they seem fleeting. For example I like the riffage in the verse of the first song and then they suckify it with a chorus Soundgarden would have rejected in 1995. Granted I only have five of the seven songs and some of them have been listened to exactly once, but early impressions are not favorable. I will listen to it again but I doubt much will change.

In fact I am not even going to listen to it right this second, I need some good Mastodon first....(goes and puts on "March of the Fire Ants")...ah, much better.

I agree. The vocals sound fine when it is in tandem with the growls like in the title track but they suck when they try to slow things down and go clean only(such as the slow chorus in The Czar or Oblivion).
I think Opeth too made the same mistake with Watershed.

"suckify it with a chorus Soundgarden would have rejected in 1995."

, golden.

All I have heard is divinations, and the bootlegs from bonnaroo, the bootlegs scared me a bit, but the single divinations is really amazing. They do sing a lot more, but its always been what fits the music for mastodon. The guitar work has gotten better from what I can tell. However I read that brann is doing less creative stuff on the drums and more of a rhythm keeper which i dont know how that will turn out. As for the guy that says mastodon is just doing this for the money you can't really call progressive stoner metal the mainstream

Always? You sure about that?

Lol... Have you heard of grunge?

I didnt say that, they did. I might even go find the interview when I can be fucked.


I didnt.. but I'm about to now. If you want to analyze it, go and ask any cunt on the street wearing metal or rock apparel, and ask them if they have heard of Mastodon.

Then ask them if they have heard of Swarm of the Lotus.

Now tell me what your defenition of mainstream is.

At the end of the day we could sit and beat off over the true definition, but as far as I'm concerened its relative. Mainstream music isnt necessarily JUST Britney and shit. I think metal has its own mainstream, as does jazz ect, and Mastodon are undoubtedly floating down metals main channel now. They're a fucken household name like Opeth and Strapping, who were also bands nobody had ever fucken heard of a few years ago. What I am telling you is that Mastodons music is now suffering, and I blame their increased interest in marketable success. They did the fucking introductory song for Aqua Teen's movie for fucks sake. Are you telling me that a band thats got a song on a (now check this word out) popular comedy franchise, ISNT a largely reputable band in the industry?

That said, now that I've mentioned Swarm... any Mastodon fans not familiar with the band should really check out their When White Becomes Black album.