Mastodon - Remission

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• MASTODON REMISSION

Music reviews of Remission

Music Review: Mastodon will CRUSH you
Rating: 5 Stars

The first thing that you are likely to notice when you listen to this album is the drumming. To be perfectly blunt, I believe that this album has the greatest metal drumming performance that I've ever heard. Forget Christy and Hoglan and Portnoy and Mournier and Longstreh, Brann Dailor crushes them all.(And don't tell me that so and so is more technical; I don't care. I'm speaking from a purely subjective, artistic standpoint) He's an utterly maniacal metal-fusion drummer who unleashes some truly spectacular and wildly shifting rhythms along with the most frenetic and powerful fills around. And it goes without saying that he can still groove with the best of them. He plays with such unbelievable intensity and energy that even after dozens of listens he's still truly exhilirating to listen to every time. Some might say he's too busy and overbearing, but he's just to damn fun to listen to, and most of the energy in the album comes from his performance. The rest of the band are no slouches, to be sure. The guitars are extremely distorted, hissing and rasping wildly while they throw out some nicely varied riffs, ranging from crushing stoner or doom groove-riffs to bizarre, lightning-quick licks. They manage to be crushingly heavy one second and surprisingly melodic and lucid the next. They also are clearly technical without being overly flashy, and thus never sacrifice groove or memorability for self-indulgent excesses. The vox are first rate as well. They are a somewhat monotonous and distorted roar (for the most part) which frequently provides a sort of base for the instrumental madness around them. They even manage to write some rather catchy vocal lines every now and then, rather surprising considering the anti-melodic nature of their basic style.

There are no throwaway tracks here, so I'll just cover a few highlights. Crusher Destroyer(the songs have great names, by the way) is a massive opener. Dailor drums with unbelievable ferocity while the others throw out some unusual and highly abrasive riffs, which leads nicely to the more melodic section in the middle. Great Song. Workhorse is the absolute best track here. A nice little intro cuts to an utterly fierce and stomping groove with an instantly memorable vocal line. The breakdown in the middle is fabulous as well. Trainwreck is calmer, more epic. It's got some distinctive, softer and raspier vocals and some eerie melodic guitar which alternate with the most powerful groove riffs on the album. The faster, more intense section later in the song brings it all together nicely. Probably the second best song. Elephant Man is a very solid, generally fairly mellow instrumental. Lots of melody and some beautiful leads combine with a good amount of atmosphere and an understated but very real undercurrent of intensity which threatens to explode all throughout the track. The bonus track Emerald is very cool as well. A nice Thin Lizzy cover which both provides a good contrast to the rest of the album, yet still fits in very well.

But enough specifics. Mastodon are one of the best new metal bands out there, and the best metalcore band around. Get it.

Description of Remission

Songs such as the galloping "March of the Fire Ants," the beautiful "Ol'e Nessie," "Mother Puncher's" labyrinthine guitar workout, and the punishing "Workhorse" are nothing short of insta-classics, and the album's remaining seven tracks are not far behind.

The quartet dug into their roadwork hard upon the release of Remission. First a two-month North American tour supporting HIGH ON FIRE, followed by strings of dates supporting HATEBREED, CLUTCH, and FIVE POINTE O. The quartet finished out a busy 2002 with a Japanese Tour with HIGH ON FIRE and a quick Eastern U.S. run supporting The DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN.

MASTODON kicked off 2003 with a much talked about appearance at the Relapse Contamination Festival and their first European Tour with HIGH ON FIRE. The band then embarked on its first headlining U.S. Tour, anchoring the Relapse North American Contamination tour with labelmates CEPHALIC CARNAGE, UPHILL BATTLE, and DYSRHYTHMIA. MASTODON immediately followed up the Contamination Tour with two European headlining tours in the Spring/Summer of 2003, including a plethora of Icelandic headlining dates. In September, 2003, MASTODON criss-crossed the U.S. with hard rockers CLUTCH, further reinforcing the power and beauty of their revered live show.

MASTODON carved its own path, and 'Remission' established the band as one of catalysts aiming to change the face of heavy music for the better. 'Remission' sent shockwaves across the hard rock community as critics and fans alike praised the album's diversity and strength. MASTODON graced the pages of nearly every noteworthy music tome worldwide as well as regional newspapers North America over including New York's Village Voice, the LA Weekly, the San Francisco Bay Guardian, St. Louis Riverfront Times, Orlando Weekly, Broward-Palm Beach New Times, Washington Post, Dallas Morning News, Austin Chronicle and dozens more.

In the Fall of 2003, MASTODON was selected to appear amongst heavy music's biggest names as they were invited to be a part of the MTV2 "Headbangers Ball" 2xCD compilation. MASTODON's "March of the Fire Ants" appeared alongside hard music giants SLAYER, DEFTONES, and HATEBREED, as well as fellow fast-rising artists KILLSWITCH ENGAGE, SHADOWS FALL, POISON THE WELL and ARCH ENEMY. The Headbangers Ball album went on to sell upwards of 150,000 units, exposing the band to legions of new devotees.

In November, 2003 MASTODON filmed its first music video.The video catapulted MASTODON into the living rooms of countless metal fans and remained in steady rotation at both MTV2 and Fuse's "Uranium" program well into 2004. On the heels of the video's success, MASTODON was invited to appear in-studio as co-hosts of "Headbangers Ball," and did so alongside host Jamey Jasta, on Valentine's Day, 2004.

The accolades continued as MASTODON was named one of ALTERNATIVE PRESS Magazine's "Bands You Need to Know in 2004" and one of Metal Hammer's "50 Bands You Must Hear" for 2004 (alongside THE BRONX, AVENGED SEVENFOLD, MATCHBOOK ROMANCE and VELVET REVOLVER (ex-GUNS N' ROSES). In February, 2004, MASTODON was named one of the "25 Most Important Bands in Metal" by AP and as one of the "25 Greatest Live Bands Ever" by Revolver Magazine. The Revolver list also included such rock giants as KISS, NIRVANA, LED ZEPPELIN, AC/DC and SLAYER.

MASTODON teamed up with CLUTCH for a successful three-week stint in February and immediately following, made select west coast headlining appearances on their way to Seattle, where they entered both Robert Lang Studios (NIRVANA, PRETTY GIRLS MAKE GRAVES, FOO FIGHTERS) and Litho Studios (DEFTONES, SOUNDGARDEN, BOTCH) with producer Matt Bayles to record material for their second album 'Leviathan.

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