It's official: the 2000's-era Mastodon metalheads in their mid-20's like myself grew up on is dead. You get the occasional reminder of their glory days in the form of a brief pummeling riff or screamed vocal line from Troy Sanders or Brent Hinds, but the group that spent their first four albums challenging the boundaries of the genre with their bold songwriting has traded in innovation for the comfort of convention on their last couple of records. Their seventh LP, Emperor of Sand, has ultimately helped me accept the fact the old Mastodon is never coming back and begin to (begrudgingly) respect the more straightforward direction they've embraced in recent years.
While I do respect Mastodon's change in sound, it's hard to ignore the state of complacency they've settled into on Emperor of Sand. Outside of a couple of standout tracks ("Steambreather", "Jaguar God") and excellent guitar solos ("Ancient Kingdom", "Roots Remain"), there's an overwhelming feeling of familiarity that runs through this record that had previously been foreign to Mastodon's music. A majority of the tracks follow the exact same structure: heavy intro with some nice, crunchy grooves before descending into a collection of decent mid-tempo hard rock/alternative metal riffs and melodic hooks. The consistent tone of the songwriting may prevent the WTF-inducing experimental sins that sunk Once More 'Round the Sun (I still have nightmares about the "Hey ho, let's fucking go" section of "Aunt Lisa") from entering the fold, but it also prevents their dynamic riffwriting ability and gift for executing seamless tempo changes from ever shining through. Unpredictability was vital to Mastodon's success as a band and with that sense of adventure out of the equation, they're a lot less fun to listen to.
As hard as I tried to shake off my superfan bias, I can't help but view listening to Emperor of Sand as a bittersweet experience. On one hand, it's a competently-constructed hard rock record with some great moments and a limited amount of miscues ("Show Yourself" is the only song on here that I would dub a miserable failure). On the other, it serves as a reminder that a band I've spent nearly half my life idolizing has pretty much completed their transformation from transcendent genre pioneers to anonymous a-holes. I now understand how Iron Maiden, Metallica and Megadeth fans felt when they watched their musical heroes inexplicably fall from grace in the early-to-mid 90's and as petty as this emotional phenomenon is, it's still a huge fucking bummer. Now if you excuse me, I'm going to spend the rest of the day curled up in a ball watching reruns of Dawson's Creek and eating Haagen-Dazs until I pass out from crying.
While I do respect Mastodon's change in sound, it's hard to ignore the state of complacency they've settled into on Emperor of Sand. Outside of a couple of standout tracks ("Steambreather", "Jaguar God") and excellent guitar solos ("Ancient Kingdom", "Roots Remain"), there's an overwhelming feeling of familiarity that runs through this record that had previously been foreign to Mastodon's music. A majority of the tracks follow the exact same structure: heavy intro with some nice, crunchy grooves before descending into a collection of decent mid-tempo hard rock/alternative metal riffs and melodic hooks. The consistent tone of the songwriting may prevent the WTF-inducing experimental sins that sunk Once More 'Round the Sun (I still have nightmares about the "Hey ho, let's fucking go" section of "Aunt Lisa") from entering the fold, but it also prevents their dynamic riffwriting ability and gift for executing seamless tempo changes from ever shining through. Unpredictability was vital to Mastodon's success as a band and with that sense of adventure out of the equation, they're a lot less fun to listen to.
As hard as I tried to shake off my superfan bias, I can't help but view listening to Emperor of Sand as a bittersweet experience. On one hand, it's a competently-constructed hard rock record with some great moments and a limited amount of miscues ("Show Yourself" is the only song on here that I would dub a miserable failure). On the other, it serves as a reminder that a band I've spent nearly half my life idolizing has pretty much completed their transformation from transcendent genre pioneers to anonymous a-holes. I now understand how Iron Maiden, Metallica and Megadeth fans felt when they watched their musical heroes inexplicably fall from grace in the early-to-mid 90's and as petty as this emotional phenomenon is, it's still a huge fucking bummer. Now if you excuse me, I'm going to spend the rest of the day curled up in a ball watching reruns of Dawson's Creek and eating Haagen-Dazs until I pass out from crying.
3.5/5 Stars
Standout Tracks
1.Steambreather
2.Roots Remain
3.Jaguar God
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