Mastodon - Emperor of Sand

Jul 14, 2005
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I know Mastodon are pretty revered on this board, with good reason: they've produced 4 or 5 incredibly high standard albums.

I've only listened through this one a few times, but it stacks up pretty well. Sounds similar to Blood Mountain in parts, but has the accessibility of The Hunter.

I didn't jam OMRTS much but this is very cool

Thoughts?
 

MelbourneCrow

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Just having my first listen, so will provide further feedback later in the week. Funny though that the promotional material goes on about "We don't make the same record again" and the first track is very unmistakeably them.
 
Jul 12, 2008
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definitely has that 'accessible' touch to it as you say, some straight ahead stuff ala the hunter. enjoying for the most part but wouldn't mind a bit more teeth to it.
still making very good film clips.
 
Jul 14, 2005
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definitely has that 'accessible' touch to it as you say, some straight ahead stuff ala the hunter. enjoying for the most part but wouldn't mind a bit more teeth to it.
still making very good film clips.

Think Fantano made a similar point. It's very, very accessible and almost radio rock-y with some of the chorus' and clean singing. Some of the songs sound very similar to other songs they've made on Blood Mountain.
 

HugeJohnson

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Personally I rate The Hunter as their weakest release, I love all their other albums but there's something about The Hunter that bores me a little bit. I've listened to Emperor of Sand a couple of times now and so far getting the same sort of vibe as The Hunter, I'll give it another go but I haven't really had a track on there stand out to me yet.
 
Have only listened to "Show yourself" and it's very meh.

Remission and Leviathan, still their best efforts.

I haven't bothered to listen to anything from them since Blood Mountain, as they lost their way.
 
Jul 14, 2005
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Sounds like they'll have another album out in the next month.

No official announcement, but they released a B-sides album last year so you'd have to assume they're are about due for another LP. It's been 4 years since Emperor of Sand came out.
 

volcboy

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Jul 15, 2005
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The album will be called "Hushed and Grim", and is a double album. The single "Pushing The Tides" is out now, with a suitably strange video - it's Mastodon, I like it:



I like all their albums for different reasons - I'm not one of the 'I only like their first three albums before they sold out' people.

I was lucky enough to be in L.A. for work in mid-2019, and I saw Mastodon perform at the outdoor Greek Theatre in the hills above Hollywood. They performed the 'Crack The Skye' album from start to finish (10th anniversary of its release) and an extended encore. Brilliant!
 
Jul 14, 2005
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The album will be called "Hushed and Grim", and is a double album. The single "Pushing The Tides" is out now, with a suitably strange video - it's Mastodon, I like it:



I like all their albums for different reasons - I'm not one of the 'I only like their first three albums before they sold out' people.

I was lucky enough to be in L.A. for work in mid-2019, and I saw Mastodon perform at the outdoor Greek Theatre in the hills above Hollywood. They performed the 'Crack The Skye' album from start to finish (10th anniversary of its release) and an extended encore. Brilliant!


Yeh I've always seen them as a hard rock band than a metal band. A couple of their contemporaries (Kylesa, Baroness) are firmly in the same bucket.

Their more recent stuff has been extension of their sludgier sound. Taken elements of classic rock, and evolved pretty well. I don't think their past decade has been anywhere near as strong as their first, but they're still putting out good stuff. The Emperor of Sand wouldn't be far off Remission, on a track-by-track basis.

This album will be their longest gap between releases, so I'm keen to see what they put out.

Also saw them play CTS at the Big Day Out years ago and they were fantastic.
 
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