a big 'yes'! the last piece of the puzzle. the last words to this chapter. mastodon's latest album 'once more 'round the sun' on coloured vinyl. again i ordered through the german warner/reprise webshop and this time the delivery didn't turn out a complete catastrophe, like happened with my first 'the hunter' order. warner imports the goods from their u.k. offshoot and this time all went down very smooth.
after repeated spins on my turntable, i can only say that mastodon have outdone themselves again with this masterpiece. i probably used this word in connection with this band quite often, but what can i do? their stuff is breathtaking on a regular basis. progressive, quite gritty, balls to the wall rocking and sludgy here and there. 'once more 'round the sun' is a friggin' scorcher which cannot be denied.
i think it was when i wrote about the 'call of the mastodon' lp, i said that i couldn't really hang with mastodon's newer stuff. well, i feel like i've grown with the bands releases and when i listen to 'chimes at midnight', 'asleep in the deep' (funny cat video) or the heartbreaking final of 'diamond in the witch house', i feel like i never want to listen to anything else. it's that good.
again and keeping in touch with 'the hunter', this album is non-conceptional. the band stated that every member went through some troubled times in 2013, but by doing so all at the same time the writing process for 'once more...' had have a cathartic effect. they pooled those negative forces and turned them into something positive. i can only confirm the positive outcome to hundert percent.
the artwork for this record looks absolutely stunning. so many details and completely over the top. a wild, spacy trip for the eyes. it was done by the artist skinner. the two monsters represent life and death and everything in between symbolises the journey from birth to demise. reprise went for a lovely colour pattern this time. it's called cyan blue and white mixed. but it has a somewhat green tinge to it, like toothpaste. i really like it. reprise records. 2014/2015.
