Blood Mountain - Mastodon

Best Metal Album Since Master of Puppets

This album is so incredible. If you love mid-80's Metallica and Slayer, you'll love this.

Great album, terrible mastering

Why, oh why, does the "Loudness War" even exist? For those not in the know, music has been mastered louder and louder ever since the 90s. This of course, leads to greater compression, less dynamics, and even clipping (digital distortion). It has gotten to the point where even major label recordings can sound terrible.

Which leads us to Blood Mountain. The sound is bloated, and there is noticeable clipping, particularly during guitar solos. I own death metal albums recorded on shoestring budgets that have more definition and dynamics than Blood Mountain. That's just pathetic.

That being said, this is still a great album, and certainly one of the most original sounding metal albums I've heard. I would describe it as Black Sabbath meets Death meets Pink Floyd. The songwriting is top notch, utilizing time changes, fusion/prog melodies, and a combination of doom, thrash/death, and hardcore riffs. As you might expect, the musicianship required to play this kind of music is also top notch. The drummer is of course the most stand-out musician of the band due to his up-front playing style. However, I do wish the lead guitarist was given more solo time because his playing style is fantastic, a mixture of southern rock and fusion.

Once again, this is a great album, but I just wish the sound quality were better.

Well Done

These boys hit a home run with Leviathan, and they come back to answer that with this eminent piece of work. Outstanding. Calling this band heavy alone would not be doing them justice. There is a lot of depth here, and like Leviathan, there is nary a dud on the entire album. If you have never heard of Mastodon, Leviathan is a great place to start, but remember that Blood Mountain is equally good. You may want both for your collection.

.....just when they say rock is dead.....

Amazing...all I can really say about these guys. I first saw them with Slayer and Killswitch Engage in Atlanta. They stole the show. After that night, Ive been a huge fan of theirs. Each album that has came out has only gotten better and better. How many bands can you say that about? Blood Mountain is a progressive masterpiece. Waves of technical guitar work, thunderous vocals, and some of the best drumming period from Brann.This album reminds me alot of when I first heard Black Water park from Opeth...It melted my mind. Blood Mountain is that good.......

Metal's saviours

This is easily the most interesting hard rock release I have heard in the last two years. Along with Down, this band is truly carrying the flag for all the metalheads who aren't totally fascinated by ultra-fast playing and vomit vocals. Each track takes them in a new direction, so predictable they are most definitely not. From the amazing opening track, these dudes play the hell out of it and there's so much going on it stays interesting after several dozen plays. The vocals are a superb fit with the music. As a former fan of Today is the Day, I was pleased to discover they share some personnel with that outfit. The awesome cover art is just the cherry on the cake.

Best Metal Album Since Master of Puppets

This album is so incredible. If you love mid-80's Metallica and Slayer, you'll love this.

Great album, terrible mastering

Why, oh why, does the "Loudness War" even exist? For those not in the know, music has been mastered louder and louder ever since the 90s. This of course, leads to greater compression, less dynamics, and even clipping (digital distortion). It has gotten to the point where even major label recordings can sound terrible.

Which leads us to Blood Mountain. The sound is bloated, and there is noticeable clipping, particularly during guitar solos. I own death metal albums recorded on shoestring budgets that have more definition and dynamics than Blood Mountain. That's just pathetic.

That being said, this is still a great album, and certainly one of the most original sounding metal albums I've heard. I would describe it as Black Sabbath meets Death meets Pink Floyd. The songwriting is top notch, utilizing time changes, fusion/prog melodies, and a combination of doom, thrash/death, and hardcore riffs. As you might expect, the musicianship required to play this kind of music is also top notch. The drummer is of course the most stand-out musician of the band due to his up-front playing style. However, I do wish the lead guitarist was given more solo time because his playing style is fantastic, a mixture of southern rock and fusion.

Once again, this is a great album, but I just wish the sound quality were better.

Well Done

These boys hit a home run with Leviathan, and they come back to answer that with this eminent piece of work. Outstanding. Calling this band heavy alone would not be doing them justice. There is a lot of depth here, and like Leviathan, there is nary a dud on the entire album. If you have never heard of Mastodon, Leviathan is a great place to start, but remember that Blood Mountain is equally good. You may want both for your collection.

.....just when they say rock is dead.....

Amazing...all I can really say about these guys. I first saw them with Slayer and Killswitch Engage in Atlanta. They stole the show. After that night, Ive been a huge fan of theirs. Each album that has came out has only gotten better and better. How many bands can you say that about? Blood Mountain is a progressive masterpiece. Waves of technical guitar work, thunderous vocals, and some of the best drumming period from Brann.This album reminds me alot of when I first heard Black Water park from Opeth...It melted my mind. Blood Mountain is that good.......

Metal's saviours

This is easily the most interesting hard rock release I have heard in the last two years. Along with Down, this band is truly carrying the flag for all the metalheads who aren't totally fascinated by ultra-fast playing and vomit vocals. Each track takes them in a new direction, so predictable they are most definitely not. From the amazing opening track, these dudes play the hell out of it and there's so much going on it stays interesting after several dozen plays. The vocals are a superb fit with the music. As a former fan of Today is the Day, I was pleased to discover they share some personnel with that outfit. The awesome cover art is just the cherry on the cake.