mastodon - hushed and grim

ah man, i don't know. there are quite some real good songs on 'hushed & grim' but i still don't really know whether this album clicks with me or not. i can't be sure really as i had way too few listens as of now. the 80min + of the album don't help in that matter because i find it hard to sit through that long of a duration. what is safe to say is that this record is a bit more mellow than previous work. i'll give it another listen... reprise records. 2021.

mastodon - medium rarities

obviously no one needs this compilation. the one exclusive and new song is generic mastodon stuff and the rest is, well, b-sides. despite it being pretty pricey, i still wanted it and found this at a store which had it for a little lower price tag. i am a fan-boy like that and took it. nice pink marble vinyl.

deftones - gore

got this one as a present and probably wouldn't have bought this by myself. i was pretty out of touch with deftones after their self-titled fourth full length. i think "gore" is quite good and i enjoy it all the way through. nice bone white double vinyl release. reprise records. 2016.

mastodon - emperor of sand pink vinyl

after christmas i used a bit of my annual bonus to treat myself to a record which i had my eyes on for quite some time. when the ten bands, one cause edition of mastodon's "emperor of sand" was released in mid 2017 i was torn as what to do. there was no initial colour vinyl pressing of the record plus it would come on the best vinyl colour of all - pink. the temptation was hard to resist but a hefty overall price of over fifty bucks for an u.s. import put me off. i rather wanted to play the waiting game and maybe come across a cheaper option at some later point.

this tactic seemed to pay off because a few months later the price of the record dropped to reasonable amounts on discogs. as only u.s. sellers offered the record, i still payed a considerable chunk of cash because of the high shipping rates. nevertheless i am really happy with my purchase from a nice u.s. independent record store. this pink u.s. version doesn't differ from the euro edition but in the fine print only. and in the vinyl colour of course.

i actuallly found it difficult to take pictures of the vinyl and get the colour across in the right way. when taken a closer look, one can see that the vinyl colour is a mix of white and red pvc with a slight marble effect. my shitty cam seems to emphasise the white in the mix. the last photo shows the actual colour best. musically "emperor of sand" is a masterpiece. such a strong effort that has it all. the progressivity, the hooks, the melodies, the lyrical concept - everything. glad to have one out of 3000 copies. reprise records. 2017.

mastodon - emperor of sand

i finally came around to get a copy of the new masterpiece by mastadon. the new baby is entitled "emperor of sand" and is a concept album again which really made me see the return of high times of "crack the skye" or "leviathan". it is not like i wouldn't love the non-concept records "the hunter" and "once more 'round the sun", quite on the contrary. in other words: there is no such thing as a bad mastodon record. but the overshadowing myth of a lyrical concept adds a special attraction.

"emperor of sand" tells the story of a protagonist being sentenced to death by a ruler of the desert. he is cursed to wander the wastelands and experiences different stages of exhaustion, dehydration and disorientation. at the end the protagonist dies and is saved at the same time. with these metaphors the band deals with relatives of a few members developing cancer. a gripping concept in a fantastic setting. next to the lyrical common thread the musical part is outstanding.

to me it is a perfect mastodon album. not one weak song on the record. all killer, no filler. again the band worked with producer brendan o'brien. he already was the mediator between the band and recording techniques on "crack the skye" and did an awesome job back then. on "emperor of sand" i feel the same diversity and lust for detail. an artisitic collaboration which paid off completely. listen to the full album and convince yourself.

i got myself a copy that late because i thought and still think that there will be a coloured vinyl version of "emperor of sand" at some point. i tried to wait it out but failed becuase you know, it's mastodon. so of course i will pay for another colour copy when the time arrives. the artwork by alan brown/medusawolf is gorgeous. i love the hieronymus bosch-esque center piece of the gatefold cover. nice 180gr black vinyl housed in a sturdy, glossy gatefold sleeve. european edition. reprise records. 2017.

mastodon - once more 'round the sun

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.

mastodon - the hunter

a record mailer doesn't fit into your average mailbox, right? well, let me tell you a story. to get this record was a quite a pain in the ass. reprise set the release date for this colour re-press in early august this year. that plan didn't really work out so after i already put in my pre-order at the european warner store, it got delayed at the end of the month. ok, no problem so far. i survived many pre-order delays before and this would be no difference. when it arrived it unfortunately looked like this, though.

i use to get all my vinyl stuff delivered to work to avoid picking up my mail at the post office. this package was delivered on a friday and at the time in the afternoon none of my collegues were there anymore. that son of a bitch postman took the easiest way and crammed it into the mailbox, although a package of that sort has to be confirmed at receipt or brought to the post office if there is no one to accept it.

the pictures give you an idea of how it was stuck there. it didn't move a bit when i tried to pull it out. i got a little mad when trying it and ripped the whole box off the wall. fuck, i was pissed. the coming monday i took the mailbox plus package to the post office and earned astonished looks of the staff. fortunately the employee was very nice and we worked out a reclamation document, because he had to tore the record apart in order to free it.

when the emplyoee filled in the form he found out that the postman actually faked the receipt confirmation. what an asshole! to this date i still wait for my refund. going to enquire about that the coming week. anyway, i placed another order and this time it all went down very smooth. the record came in the way it is supossed to be and i think it's a damn good mastodon record.

i was a little insecure if the post relapse records were as good as the first three (i count 'blood mountain' as a relapse record because they handled the first two vinyl pressings), but after 'crack the skye' was a real scorcher i was in positive anticipation. what can i say, 'the hunter' does not disappoint at all. it is a pandemonium full of sophistically crafted musical pieces. check out 'octopus has no friends' and 'all the heavy lifting'. not as coherent as the records before but not one stinker to be found.

this is the first album after their series loosely based on the four elements and therefore they chose a different way of art work for the hunter. the cover shows a full on sculpture by aj fosik. pretty cool. the album title is a dedication to brent hinds' brother who died of a heart attack on a hunting trip. the record itself comes on 140g opaque red vinyl and with a ten inch insert. don't know how many were made. reprise records. 2011/2015.

mastodon - crack the skye

since i discovered this band for myself last year, i have become what is widely regarded a fan. i have their records up to 'blood mountain' and was listening to these albums in a quite natural way, which means i listened to them in order of appearance. almost, that is. i heard 'leviathan' before 'remission'. whatever, at the beginning of the year mastodon announced re-pressings of their reprise records back catalogue on coloured vinyl. i was thrilled to bits as it would spare me the agony of getting original colour vinyl of 'crack the skye'.

i already have 'blood mountain' on my favourite colour pattern and so i skipped the re-press. 'crack...' was set to be released on june, second and i pre-ordered through their u.k. store. i was really excited to finally hold it in my hands. i was able to maintain the illusion of hearing the records in order of release just like it would be a new output. as i never listened to the record before, i couldn't wait to drop the needle on it. musically it's quite different to their previous stuff. way more prog rock and less metal.

i have got to say i really dig the album. not the fact that it's less metal-ish but this whole thing is so sophistically worked out, it's simply jaw-dropping. i love the weird lyrical story of a paraplegic child leaving its body in a transcendental manner, slipping through a wormhole, landing in russia of the early twentieth century where the russian cult of the khlysts passing its soul into rasputin's body. after the assassination of the assumed khlyst rasputin, his soul is trying to help the child getting back into its own body. completely over the top but because of that so damn cool.

music wise mastodon serves the whole pallet of emotions, from raging to melancholic, over heavy to progressive. the only little downer is that brann dailor's drumming got less complex. it's a wild trip anyway and you should take it right now. the album name and the title song was inspired by brann dailor's sister skye, who committed suicide at the age of fourteen. 'remission' had some references too. 'crack the skye' is the last out of four mastodon albums based on the theory of the four elements, representing 'air' or better 'aether'. don't know how many were made on this 'baby blue' vinyl. reprise records. 2009/2015.