F O U R T H E Y E

hellboy wrote:Well, I'm starting t lose a bit of interest in this album now....not sure where to start with this track

Agreed. This is terrible. This is not Mastodon. This is pop rock and bores me to tears. I get that Mastodon has long since moved away from their early heavy albums and that was fine because their last couple of releases were still good and still had some teeth. This shit barely even sounds like Mastodon. This sounds more like QOTSA and I fucking hate QOTSA.

Sounds like crappy Triple J fodder.

Think I'll pass....

Doesn't seem any better/worse than The Motherload did to me, and I loved the last album just fine. It's only one song.

I didn't mind Motherload - it's not that it's a poppy song that bothers me all that much. I agree that the last album was excellent.

But it's what sounds to me like massive over production on the new track that bothers me. The vocals in particular - it's not their voices I have a problem with, it's they way they are presented to us.

It's all refrains.

The chorus sounds like it's auto-tuned for instance. Not sure if that's a deliberate Cher-like effect, but it bothers me
.

Yeah, Troy sounds a little too "good" there. And I feel like Brann's performance is a little lacking too.

Brann's parts on all these Mastodon songs feel like they should be the chorus instead of the verses. And in this song the chorus feels like it should be a bridge instead.

This whole song feels like it was thrown together at the end of a recording session and they just decided to keep it.

Eh, can't say I'm a real fan of this track either tbh:

RIP Mastodon

Ettan wrote:

Their last album was pretty good I thought, so I expected this would be of similar quality. Not so it seems...

Everything they released after the Crack The Skye album was a let down for me.

I really liked The Hunter, but I was not a fan of the last one.

Album is out there for those interested. Haven't had a listen yet but will do so at some point today.

So my initial observations:
* I hope you guys like Brann's clean vocals, because they seem to be on every fucking track now (I don't mind them to be fair)
* It has a couple of really good tracks - really enjoyed Steambreather and Roots Remain. Jaguar God was also quite interesting, it starts off quite ballady and then it then morphs into something more proggy than what we're used to with current Mastodon.
* It's very much a continuation from The Hunter and Once More 'Round The Sun. I think it's safe to say if you're not a massive fan of those, you won't dig this one a bunch either.
* On first listen I'd probably rate it somewhere around a 6/10, which is probably where I expected it based on the singles. About on par with The Hunter, but not quite as good as Once More 'Round The Sun or anything before those.

Show Yourself has kinda grown on me as well. And I like the video too:

The video is good. Zandy Hartig being in it is also pretty cool.

I think the album is growing on me a bit. I think 6/10 is a bit harsh, might be closer to a 7/10. What is good on the album is quite good (which is mostly the first half) especially the tracks Precious Stones, Steambreather, Roots Remain and Word to the Wise. As mentioned before I think Jaguar God is a pretty good track as well.

Any "weird" stuff on it??

Calfium Jay wrote:Any "weird" stuff on it??

Aside from a little more use of piano and other "noise" I doubt there is anything you'd consider "weird" or even unexpected on the album.

Anyone else have any thoughts on this album?

It's REALLY fucking good! I'm not even finished with the first run through. Thankful that the pre-release songs I wasn't so hot on were right up front so the rest of the journey has been all "new" to my ears. It's another baby step progression wise for them, but I think it's really good.

I like it! It's really growing on me after each listen. I really like Word to the Wise. Will be interesting to hear the new tracks live!

It keeps growing on me but there's something about it that I don't like.. It feels like i'm listening to My Chemical Romance or something sometimes. I dunno but I just get that vibe. Nontheless I liked it more than I thought I would!