Introducing Mastodon is simple; they are an Atlanta metal
band that has proven to be uncaring when it comes to the parameters that have
surrounded metal music before or since their inception, making them true
mavericks in a genre that can be suffocating in terms of creative expression
when held in the wrong hands. Starting out by crafting violently heavy monstrosities
like “Shadows That Move” and “March of the Fire Ants” that borrowed from
extreme metal and hardcore in equal measure, Mastodon cranked their technical
ability knob on the impressively complex yet still bludgeoning Blood Mountain,
followed by dabbling in heady progressive rock with their final concept album
Crack the Skye. Anyone thinking that Mastodon would go further down the winding
prog rock path would be dead wrong as their next album was The Hunter, an album
that was strangely accessible coming from the band that wrote Remission, and
the album was simply a fun and oftentimes catchy affair that didn’t sacrifice
the band’s artistic integrity, at least not very much. With The Hunter sounding
nothing like Crack the Skye, and Crack the Skye sounding nothing like Blood
Mountain, it was hard to pinpoint where the band would go next. Now we have
Once More ‘Round the Sun, an album that successfully marries the catchy
accessibility of their previous album with the psychedelic complexity of the
one before it, and the resulting collection of songs make an entirely new sound
for Mastodon once again.
