Leviathan
Mastadon
(Relapse)
Part of the NWOAHM, Mastadon produce music worthy of their name. It's heavy as hell without being sludgey, and powerful metal in the old school way. What makes the band different is that their subject matter is rather unusual for an old school American metal band. 'Leviathan' has been inspired by the works of Herman Melville, most specifically Moby Dick. The music evokes the feeling of heavy seas and a fight to the death against something very big. The sound on here is huge. While the vocals are a wee bit death metal at times; this is a rather good album. While I don't see why some in the music media have given this album perfect marks, this is a very competent modern heavy metal album. Needless to say if you liked their first one, this one is essential. A good bet for fans for Chimera and Shadows Fall as well. Who knows, maybe next time out the vocalist might actually try to sing a bit more often.
Rating: 4/5
Article comments
1 - Alex
I'm the bassist in a band...and we're what you i guess could call old school metal, named No Remorse...i agree with everything you said...i'm probably the most musical, and definately the most accepting musician in my band: our guitarist likes metal...like metallica, and our rhythm guitarist listens to nothing but death metal...i hate to admit it, i listen to jazz, this album though we really all can listen to, and most of our songs now come out sounding more and more like Mastodon, this was the first album i bought by Mastodon, but most certainly not the last
2 - Duane
Weird. Two posts that both mention mastodons at the same blogsite on the same day.
3 - Eric Berlin
That's a mastadon-rich environment, no?
4 - anOnymOus
It's MastOdon
5 - Duane
O. Ok. See, I spelled it cOrrectly in pOst #2. Where's my cOOkie? We need mOre discussiOn of mastOdOns at BC.