We can set this world ablaze!

Ever since I attended a Metallica concert in Horsens last year I have been hooked on a band called Mastodon. At the time following the concert, where they were a warm-up band, There was that one song that blew my mind. Then one day I started exploring the rest of the album my favorite song was on and found another track I fell in love with. A very good friend of mind told me about their new album last autumn but the first song was not really my cup of the so I didn't pay any attention to it. First at the start of February this year did I discover two insane songs off the new album that showed me something special. A metal band that has the incredible gift off writing heavy ass riffs with catchy and gorgeous sing-a-long choruses.

On the way down to Horsens to see Metallica we heard a song by Mastodon and though I knew it from somewhere it got a bit stuck in my mind. Then when Mastodon got on stage the song had gotten bigger in a way and even though I didn't know the lyrics I was able to sing a long and Though I watched both Metallica and Slayer following Mastodon, that song was the one I was humming afterwards. I am off course talking about the catchiest chorus ever written in metal: Oblivion. In the weeks that followed I was almost entirely listening Oblivion and nothing els. There is something about that song that I felt like I had never gotten out of any other song of the metal genre. It is one off those songs where it can play in the background at a party or something like that and I can hear it's that song but not care about it until that kick ass chorus comes and then I have to stop what i'm doing and listen to it. Mastodon has a very special set of voices in the band. Troy Sanders is the screamer off the group. he can both growl and sing rather high pitch while doing it. Though it seems like he can't always do it cause Mastodon usually lake a lot off punch when you hear a live recording. Brann Dailor is the Tenor and he has a very clean but yet a bit off a compressed voice that works awfully well in their songs, but he can't sing as well live as he can on the albums because off him having to drum like a motherfucker. Brent Hinds has a really weird voice that is kind of high but still coming from the back off his throat so it isn't to high. His vocal performance on Oblivion's chorus is insane. His different voicings mix perfectly together, but that has made it really hard to reenact on stage. But it's not really a problem when you see them live yourself.  

The album Crack the Skye is awesome and all but I don't get that awesome vibe off the other songs but there is one song that I think is great but in a completely different way then Oblivion. The Last Baron is a big and epic composition the goes beyond 13 minutes. And right from the get go you hear that insane opening line "I'd guess the would say we could set this world ablaze" and my god what and opening line that is. the song is very prog like and has some elements that are worse then others but the good parts are almost genius. One part in particular is awesome. about 8 minutes in the songs complexity changes completely and you go from a big proggy and apocalyptic sound, to a more punk like riff that blows my mind. It is so awesome and really is a hidden gem in a really long song that some times and be a bit to much.The lyrics in both The Last Baron and Oblivion are heavy but still have a fantasy feel. They have a way of making coll words rime with each other. The Oblivion chorus is three lines long and the three lines just fit perfectly to each other and the song's sound. "Falling from grace cause I've been away to long. Leaving you behind with my lonesome song. Now i'm lost, in Oblivion", Holy shit that's good The guitar work is so awesome and the solo just works so well with the rest off the song that the only guitar parts that beat it is the guitar work in the chorus, wich is just insane.It is a one of a kind chorus and i thought nothing would ever come close.



But I was wrong. The same band once again created almost perfection and this time they made to off them and on the same album: Once More Round The Sun. High Road is the song I like the least of the two but it is still a really good song that has that same feel Oblivion has. Again it's the catchy chorus the makes you wanna scream along to Brann Dailor's great tenor voice. A contrast build song that shifts from vers to chorus in a great way and it just fits together. Though I think the verses are a bit to dark sometimes and it's not a song I can listen to every day, but it's not at all bad.

The one song that really comes close to Oblivion is off course The Motherload. My god what a creation. It is contrary to High Road, more pop like. When I say pop like, I mean it has a simpler structure and is not as edgy and heavy in its build up. But boy, do I feel like i'm flying when that chorus comes around. The lyrics, in my book, speak about a person that has been wronged and cheated but this time it won't happen again, and that to me is awesome. You feel like Mastodon themselves or some out of this world power is watching over you and won't let you get fooled again. "This time, this time. Things will work out just fine. We won't let you slip away. This time, this time. Things will work out just fine. We won't let you leave this way". You can't help but to scream along, while chills rolls down your spine cause it's so awesome. Followed up by the high growl like voice of Troy Sanders and it's time to crack some skulls. This band really has something special within them. They can create almost perfect songs and to do that from a metal stand point is insane. You would have to be either Dimebag or a really special band with really talented people to pull that of and Mastodon in deed are special.
Morten........ Tusind tak!


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