{"id":1281,"date":"2017-04-04T23:23:34","date_gmt":"2017-04-04T23:23:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/?p=1281"},"modified":"2017-04-04T23:23:34","modified_gmt":"2017-04-04T23:23:34","slug":"review-mastodon-emperor-of-sand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/2017\/04\/04\/review-mastodon-emperor-of-sand\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Mastodon &#8211; Emperor of Sand"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Mastodon have been one of my all-time favorite bands ever since I first heard <em>Blood Mountain <\/em>and <em>Crack The Skye<\/em> in high school, in my early years of exploring the vast world of metal music. I was enamored not just by the intensity and titanic grand scale of their sound, but also the ambitiousness of their songwriting and the offbeat, weird, and creative tangents they would often delve into. Since that time, every subsequent Mastodon release has been sort of an event for me, and they are now back with their 7<sup>th<\/sup> studio album, <em>Emperor of Sand<\/em>. While it\u2019s hard to tell what exactly every new Mastodon album will bring, there was much to suggest that this would be a sort of return to their first 4 releases. The album art and title font evoked the same stylistic choices as those releases, and the band teamed up with producer Brendan O\u2019Brien, who worked with them prior on <em>Crack The Skye<\/em>. On top of that, it was billed as a concept album, a musical approach that had been abandoned on their past two albums, about a desert wanderer sentenced to death. Even with all that in mind though, there\u2019s always surprises to be found, and that becomes apparent as soon as you press play.<\/p>\n<p>The album opens up with \u201cSultan\u2019s Curse,\u201d which was released as the first single. An unsettling chime\/bell intro segues into a tight 6\/8 groove, complete with massive sludgy riffs and pummeling drums. Combined with the hazy vibes of the chorus and bridge\/solo, especially the swirling mix of guitar chords and melodies during the latter, it makes for a quintessential Mastodon track and a killer album opener. Unfortunately, that great start comes to an immediate grinding halt with the second track \u201cShow Yourself,\u201d a painfully dull southern hard rock jam that\u2019s neck and neck with \u201cThe Motherload\u201d for the single weakest song the band has ever written. The pairing of these two tracks right out of the gate creating an uncomfortable set of expectations, as I was wondering if the entire album was just going to veer back and forth between great and mediocre. Well\u2026<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"747\" height=\"421\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Og39iIBeOHI?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The most positive thing that can be said about <em>Emperor of Sand<\/em> is how much the music commits to the conceptual ideas intended, as the songwriting consistently suggests the sensation of wandering the desert, forever subjected to the unavoidable haze of the blazing sun. One of the best tracks to convey this sensation is \u201cSteambreather,\u201d as it opens with a bubbling cracking synth leading into a rumbling low-end guitar part almost reminiscent of the <em>Remission <\/em>days (which can also be said of the outro), combined with plenty of fuzz as the lead guitars howl and echo over the verses. The drums keep things steady throughout as they mix with hints of tambourine and maracas for that very southern feeling (and these percussive elements persist throughout the record). \u201cRoots Remain,\u201d while not one of my favorite cuts on the record, contributes to this with a solid chorus that captures the sense of desperation from being stranded in these circumstances for so long, as well as the album closer \u201cJaguar God,\u201d in which the wanderer seems to have made peace with their inevitable death.<\/p>\n<p>To balance out some of the more emotional digressions on the album, the song also includes some hard-hitting metal bangers, with the absolute centerpiece being \u201cWord To The Wise.\u201d The main verse riff is razor-sharp and quite meaty, and the chorus is the kind of massive passage that I live for when it comes to Mastodon\u2019s music. It\u2019s overly dramatic and incredibly manic, presenting the protagonist\u2019s desperation in a more immediate and intense way. \u201cAndromeda\u201d is similarly pummeling and the most dissonant track on the album, as everything from the verse riffs to even the melodic segments give the listener a sense of uncomforting disorientation, and the outro is particularly suffocating.<\/p>\n<p>The best song on the album apart from \u201cSultan\u2019s Curse\u201d is the penultimate track \u201cScorpion Breath,\u201d which is not just a succinct summation of everything heard on the album, but also a nice mix of elements from all across the band\u2019s discography. The intro banjo piece sounds like it was taken straight from <em>Crack The Skye<\/em>, the verses utilize riffs and drum beats comparable to <em>Leviathan <\/em>and <em>Blood Mountain<\/em>, and even the chorus sounds like a faster version of \u201cSpectrelight\u201d from <em>The Hunter<\/em>. The aforementioned \u201cJaguar God\u201d is also similarly experimental: the moody and somber tone of the first two minutes gives way to a soaring proggy passage in the next two minutes, only for the song to take a break from this and go into a phenomenally hard-hitting groove for a good chunk of time. It\u2019s a great closing track.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"747\" height=\"421\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gUGda7GdZPQ?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>While there\u2019s a lot to like about this album, there\u2019s some problems that hold it back from being on par with Mastodon\u2019s best releases. The hurdle created by the mediocrity of \u201cShow Yourself\u201d alone should be somewhat of a tip-off, and the following track \u201cPrecious Stones\u201d doesn\u2019t alleviate that feeling much, being just another lame hard rock jam. Other songs on the album have certain highlights or cool ideas that unfortunately get drowned out by songwriting that feels like it was left over from <em>Once More Round The Sun<\/em>. \u201cRoots Remain\u201d has a cool intro with its trippy spacey keyboards, but the rest of the song (especially the chorus and bridge) do little to excite or engage. \u201cClandestiny\u201d comes across like a forgotten Baroness b-side, but the middle passage is rather distinct, layering various synth melodies together in a cosmic vibe reminiscent of drummer Brann Dailor\u2019s side project Arcadea. And then there\u2019s \u201cAncient Kingdom,\u201d the clunkiest song on the album, as it can never seem to decide what mood to settle on. The song tries to have intense and uncomforting moments, but they\u2019re unfortunately undercut by the triumphant feeling of the chorus and a bizarrely chipper solo that clashes with just about everything else.<\/p>\n<p>Despite a handful of tracks that feel like uninspired filler, there\u2019s still quite a bit of incredibly strong material here. The musicianship is still as tight as ever with their distinct tri-vocal dynamic and Brann\u2019s dynamic drum work, and quite a few songs can go toe-to-toe with Mastodon\u2019s best. If the album had purged the weaker songs and further tightened up the good ones, it would be an instant classic. As it stands now, <em>Emperor of Sand<\/em> is a step in the right direction, a solid recovery from their last release, and it\u2019s worth a listen or two.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Verdict:\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><em>Buy it if you&#8217;re a diehard fan, and Stream It if this would be your first Mastodon record.<br \/>\n<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Emperor of Sand is available from Reprise Records on CD, vinyl, digital download, and online streaming.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mastodon have been one of my all-time favorite bands ever since I first heard Blood Mountain and Crack The Skye in high school, \n<a class=\"moretag\" href=\"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/2017\/04\/04\/review-mastodon-emperor-of-sand\/\"> [...]<\/a>","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":1283,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","yasr_overall_rating":0,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[12],"tags":[236,233,232,132,7,235,237,234],"class_list":["post-1281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-andromeda","tag-emperor-of-sand","tag-mastodon","tag-metal","tag-music","tag-progressive-metal","tag-show-yourself","tag-sultans-curse"],"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":false,"span_bottom":false},"number_of_votes":0,"sum_votes":0},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.surrealresolution.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Emperor-of-Sand-website-thumbnail.png?fit=1152%2C720&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8GYHU-kF","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1281"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1281\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1312,"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1281\/revisions\/1312"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}