Once More 'Round Sun takes the more rock-n'-roll based sound that was established on 2011's The Hunter and takes it to the next level. About half of this record carries such a strong vintage rock sound that it sounds like material Thin Lizzy or Deep Purple would've released in their heyday. Even with Once More 'Round the Sun carrying the most drastic change in sound of their career so far, Mastodon's strength as a band remains in the songwriting department. Guitarist Brent Hinds and drummer Brann Dailor remain the gold standard for guitar/drum duos in music. Hinds continues to effortlessly crank out memorable riffs that range from punchy sludge to Jimi Hendrix-esque psychedelia while Dailor still manages to be as unpredictable and chaotic with his drumming as he was when the band started.
The one area where Mastodon has really improved on with Once More 'Round the Sun is the hooks. The Hunter was their first time making a record with a lot of traditional clean-sung hooks and it showed in places ("Octopus Has No Friends", "Curl of the Burl".) On Once More 'Round the Sun, they've really worked out the kinks in that department and by working out the kinks, I mean they let Dailor-the best singer in the band by far- sing a majority of the choruses. The hooks on "The Motherload", "Ember City" and lead single "High Road" are undeniably infectious and have been embedded into my brain since I heard first heard this record a couple of weeks ago. Arena-ready hooks may sound like an odd touch for Mastodon, but they fit their new sound perfectly and anchor most of the album's stronger tracks.
The new rock-based formula Mastodon uses on this record certainly does not come without its drawbacks. Troy Sanders' vocals don't adapt well to the change in sound in the slightest. Sanders' vocals, which have been so powerful in the past, sound pretty weak for a vast majority of the album and take away from the quality of the musical compositions. The shortcomings of Sanders' vocals on Once More 'Round the Sun isn't even really his fault. As someone who's seen Mastodon live within the past couple months and thoroughly enjoyed the Killer Be Killed record that was released in May; I can confirm that Sanders can still sing just fine. The fallman for Sanders' underwhelming vocals is producer Nick Raskulinecz. Raskulinecz's clean production style just doesn't gel well with Sanders' raw, raspy vocal delivery. Sanders' vocal deficiencies really come out on the album's slower tracks such as "Asleep in the Deep". "Asleep in the Deep" musically reminded me of the amazing "This Mortal Soil" from Blood Mountain and until the stunted vocals from Sanders came in, the song was damn near perfect. Raskulinecz's production not working for Sanders is especially strange because Dailor and Hinds- who's vocals on the title track and "Halloween" are the best he's ever done- sound excellent throughout. Unforunately, Sanders has the heaviest workload of Mastodon's trio of vocalists, so the fact that his vocals are so crappy undoes much of the positive effect Raskulinecz's production had on the vocals of Dailor and Hinds.
Though the vocals were my biggest beef with this record, I'd be remiss to not point out the couple of tracks on here that just flat-out don't work. "Aunt Lisa" and "Diamond in the Witch House" fail spectacularly in completely different ways. "Aunt Lisa" is actually a perfectly fine track up until the last minute when Mastodon decides to unload the biggest WTF moment in their history by having an all-female choir repeat the phrase "Hey ho, let's fucking go. Hey ho, let's get up and rock-n'roll" behind a shockingly heavy riff (which doesn't improve things in the slighest) for the remainder of the song. If my facial expression had been captured the first time I heard this, it would've went viral and become the new go-to "derp face" meme. On the other hand, "Diamond in the Witch House" is a track that fails against all odds. It's easily the least accessible track on the album with an over seven-minute runtime and a guest spot from the always awesome Scott Kelly of Neurosis-who's previously been featured on such Mastodon classics as "Aqua Dementia" and "Crystal Skull". Instead, "Diamond in the Witch House" is essentially the most boring Neurosis song ever made. Even though it's Mastodon's lone attempt at making a sludge track on the entire record, there's not a single noteworthy riff throughout which causes the song to plod along in no man's land for what seems like hours. "Diamond in the Witch House" is hurt even further by it's placement on the record. It not only closes the record with a thud, it also kills the momentum that the two excellent preceding tracks ("Ember City" and "Halloween") built up. About the best thing I can say about ""Aunt Lisa" and "Diamond in the Witch House" is as at least they're better than The Hunter's lowlight "Creature Lives".
I'm going to be completely honest, I would like Once More 'Round the Sun more if it was by a different band. It may sound like nitpicking to some people, but the entire time I was listening to this record I couldn't help but be somewhat underwhelmed because I know Mastodon is capable of making much better music than the material that is on here. Mastodon is at their best when making heavy, raw music with progressive undertones and there's just not very much of that on Once More 'Round the Sun. The musicality that has made them such a fixture in modern metal is still present, they're just too polished and too infatuated with making old-school rock-n'-roll records now to have the same awe-inspiring power that they had from Remission through Crack the Skye. They're far too talented of a band to put out something that's complete and utter shit, but ultimately I don't like the more straightforward direction Mastodon has been going in of late. They're becoming more and more of a shell of their former selves in their post- Crack the Skye years and as a longtime diehard fan, it sucks to watch. Despite all of my grievances with this album and my general discontent with the direction their music is headed in, I can't deny that Once More 'Round the Sun is still a quality record with a handful of really brilliant songs on it. This will undoubtedly appeal to more people than any other record Mastodon has put out before and in the process, should expose a lot of new listeners to the brilliance of their discography. Even if it's not with an album that's I absolutely love, it's great that Once More 'Round the Sun will be the record that finally gives Mastodon the level of mass exposure they should of got a decade ago.
4/5 Stars
Standout Tracks
1.The Motherload
2.Ember City
3.Once More 'Round the Sun
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