The Kingdom of inevitability, despair and sand. A review of the new Mastodon’s album “Emperor of sand”

Mastodon – Emperor Of Sand (2017)

Genre: Sludge/Progressive/Heavy Metal

There are hundreds of ways to love Mastodon. Some people like their old school spirit and the ability to combine innovative ideas with the legendary classic rock band in which each musician is simultaneously virtuoso and carpet sets the style of the whole genre. Others appreciate their irony, fully reflected in the clips, where you can find anything from professional twerking around kozlorogie to the Apocalypse in the world of”the muppet show”. Some will remember that it was “the same group where they sing everything, and especially good drummer”. And, Yes, they recorded the song “White walker” for the show “Game of thrones” and was able to die in the brutal battle of the bastards. But I think anyone who loves metal will not deny that these four guys are talented as hell and has been for 17 years and remain one of the most influential and respected bands in modern progressive-rock.

One of the signature features of the band is the ability to make a complex concept album which is usually after the release of another two or three years does not get out of the listeners ears. Such work was “Leviathan”, devoted to the book by Herman Melville (remember the track “Blood and Thunder”… fans of Need for Speed remember), and in a few years – “Crack the Skye”, a fancy which combines the theories of Stephen Hawking and the events surrounding the death of Rasputin in Czarist Russia. This album is still reverently remembered as one of the best albums in metal over the past twenty years.

Since then, however, the group did not return to the conceptual polnoformatnyh, and “Emperor of sand” , a long – awaited journey, which waited, and hoped. And, looking ahead, is to say that it is not in vain.

The concept of work is quite serious. It went all the best practices Mastodon in recent years, framed by incredible emotion – in the words of the band members, after they learned that some members of their families and close friends suffering from cancer, they were more likely to think about such things as death, despair, and the inevitability of fate. All this spilled in the story the drummer Brenn Dailor said:

This is a story about a sort of desert version of a grim Reaper and the man who got Smarty sentence and left to wander the arid Badlands – the metaphor of disease and death. At the end of the story people at a time and dies, and is saved. We are talking about those who went through cancer, through chemo and all that goes with it. We didn’t want to talk about it, but it is there, and you can read it between the lines.

Despite the fact that the album is devoid of bright penetrating hits, not dare to call, or unfinished. This is a large, complex canvas, simultaneously metaphorical and openly transparent and rich in humanity and emotions. Adult is a serious thing that you will want to listen again and again. And you can start right now.

Verdict: 9 out of 10, must have the ears of any lover of metal.

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