This is a dramatic departure for Mastodon. Much more metalcore than a continuation of their brand of sludge/prog/death metal. The clean vocals are very pedestrian and I believe are only done for the mallcore crowd. Personally, I loved their hardcore screams and indifferent stoner vocal delivery of the past. Brann Dailor still drums like a tsunami, but the guitar riffs are a lot less thrashy. Infact, the mathcore tightly coiled rhythm guitar is virtually absent, replaced with time tested guitar hero solos inserted in every song. There are times on this album, when Mastodon starts sounding derivative, such as the much ballyhooed “The Czar: Usurper/Escape/Martyr/SpiralInvariable” which reminds of of Rush crossed pollinated with QoTSA. Bands go directions that I don’t find interesting and lose me, and this may be the case with the Mastodon, but I’m going to give this one more time because I love this band.
November 6, 2009
September 25, 2009
What’s the best Yes Album
Close to the Edge is the easy choice for me. As great as “The Yes Album” and “Fragile” are, I always prefer the versions of songs such as “Yours is No Disgrace” and “Starship Trooper” from Yessongs. The live versions are much more dynamic. CTTE captures Yes at their peak as the group begins is slow decent from the pinnacle of prog rock, with the departure of Bill Bruford.
December 17, 2007
Radiohead – OK Computer
I understand, making your fans “work” to listen to music is fine. I guess you could call it art. But RH artistic decision to follow this course has lead them to relative obscurity, which is unfortunate because they still have the talent to have both artistic and commercial success. Few avante garde records such as Kid A have sold such numbers, and I’m sure Thom and the boys were laughing all the way to the bank, however it led them into a musical deadend. OK Computer, IMO is the last great album these geeks did before they went beserk. I’ve listened to album dozens of times, and I can’t honestly say it sounds like anybody else but Radiohead. Yeah it’s got prog rock, alt rock, new wave, and other sub-genres in it, but it’s uniquely Radiohead and sounds like no other band. After this proceed at your own risk.
King Crimson – Starless and Bible Black
My fav KC is Starless and Bible Black, but Red and Larks Tongue from their classic period (Fripp, Wetton, Bruford) rank up there. Yes, they can be difficult and pretentious, but they can also blow you away. In fact, I think they’re one of the heaviest bands ever. If you don’t think you can tolerate some of their experimenting, check out 3 double live albums Fripp has independently released, representing the best tunes from 3 eras of KC. First, “Night Watch” which represents the aforementioned Crimson, second, “Absent Lovers” (Belew and Levin), and finally the height of their pretension as well as loudness, the “double trio” version recorded on “Vrooom Vrooom”.