Simply put, Mastodon are amazing. There's not many more words that can describe them. So amazing that I named their 2009 album "Crack the Skye"
the album of the decade. Two years later, and is their follow up album "The Hunter" a worthy follow up? Yes. In a very different way.
Gone is the album long concept and the ten-minute plus songs. In are thirteen hits of progressive sludge metal so hard hitting that its almost
too easy to miss the sheer complexity of the songs. Trail single "Curl of the Burl" is the most radio friendly the band have ever been, yet the
song has so many layers that I'm still hearing new ones on the umpteenth listen. Accessability seems to be the aim on this album, the lack of a
concept allows you to drop in and out much easier than before, but listened to as a whole, this is a quite wonderful feast for the ears.
Mastodon seem incapable of making bad music. Even their instrumental soundtrack EP to the much maligned "Jonah Hex" was highly listenable. "The
Hunter" is a totally different beast to "Crack the Skye", but five albums into their career, they continue to make spectacular music.
**** 1/2
Watch: "Curl of the Burl"
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