Mastodon - Leviathan
Relapse Records - RR66822 - 2002
By Paddy Walsh
Oh
Mastodon, how I had gotten you all wrong. I have to hold up my hands in shame and admit that I never bothered with
Remission; dismissing the band's critical acclaim as over enthusiastic media baiting for the 'next big thing', I passed off
Mastodon as another one of the growing ranks of metalcore clones. How wrong I was.
Leviathan not only proves how much of a silly git I am, it is also one of the best metal albums of 2004, pissing over almost everything in its path. I kid thee not.
Kicking off with the mighty 'Blood and Thunder',
Mastodon waste no time in kicking your ass, with a gargantuan riff that Iommi himself would have been proud of. Drum fills cascade about the place like a spazzed-out jackhammer while the vocals have an immediacy and clarity that, while still containing the necessary force, are varied, and fit perfectly the many twists and turns in evidence throughout. Things only improve with the hulking 'I Am Ahab', while 'Seabeast' sees some perfectly placed clean vocals thrown into the mix. Want avant-garde? Then check out 'Megalodon' with it's mid-section southern guitar twang giving way to a thrash workout reminiscent of
Metallica's 'Creeping Death'.
And I could go on all night about the huge variety of mangled riffs, pulverising drums and beefed up vocals till I ran out of adjectives. The fact remains that
Leviathan is a
huge piece of work that commands your attention. It's incomparable to anything that's out there today, and this metalcore tag that lumps them in with
Killswitch Engage and their ilk is so far off the mark that it's ridiculous. Just give this a spin, dispense of outside influence (including this one), sit back and
enjoy.
9/10
Mastodon's Official Website
Relapse Records' Official Website
