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Mastodon’s new album: an exercise in heavy rock
By John Benson
The notion of sludge metal act Mastodon having a workout video and accompanying routine is borderline hilarious.
Perhaps “Sweatbands and Tattoos” would be a great title to the Atlanta band’s contribution to the exercise industry. Naturally, this isn’t going to happen but, if it did, guitarist Bill Kelliher — who admits his workout music includes Helmet’s “Meantime” and Public Enemy’s “It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back” — suggests Mastodon’s latest CD, “The Hunter,” for maximizing your core burn.
“There’s a lot more groove going on, and when you’re working out, you need a groove,” said Kelliher, calling from Atlanta on his way home from the gym. “You can’t have weird off-time signatures.”
Though weird was never a word used to describe Mastodon, over the past decade the band has risen from critically acclaimed metal act with math and prog-rock tendencies to purveyor of highly accessible monolithic riffs and heavy rock. Timeless on its own without a hint of pastiche, the group’s sound may have crystallized with “The Hunter,” but Kelliher points to the outfit’s previous effort, “Crack the Skye,” as setting the bar.
For those unfamiliar, “Crack the Skye” was the CD that cracked things wide open for Mastodon. Not only did the mainstream media pay more attention, but the band got its rocks off opening for its idols, Metallica. Basically, the connection between the band’s last two studio efforts is that both include material that stick to Mastodon’s individual sound yet deliver timeless riffs and tunes.
“Back in the day, we’d have a month off from tour and have to get back and record a record,” Kelliher said. “It was like, ‘Oh, God,’ going into the studio and not having any time to experiment too much. So we’ve learned to take it back a notch, and the bigger the band gets, the better the quality. There’s just something magical that goes on when Mastodon gets into the studio. It’s like our play land.
“I guess with this record we really learned how to strip it down. We’re just getting better at knowing what sounds good, and layering, and which amps and guitars work together. I think being laid-back is really important, and these last two records, we’ve certainly been laid-back in the studio.”
Mastodon recently was in the studio, but not so laid-back, to cut a 45-single for national Record Store Day, which promotes mom-and-pop record shops. Kelliher said the A-side finds the band covering The Flaming Lips’ “A Spoonful Weighs a Ton,” and the B-Side is Feist’s “A Commotion.”
Apparently, the band nailed The Flaming Lips tune note for note, not wanting to redo the classic; however, it took a few days before Mastodon fully figured out how to toughen up the Feist track.
So Metallica to Feist, Mastodon finds itself in some pretty diverse — if not big — circles these days. One can only imagine what the future holds.
“I never in my wildest dreams thought it would get this big,” Kelliher said. “The band would be up for Grammy Awards and travel the world and touring with these bands I grew up listening to. So it’s upward and onward. Now that we’ve got this far, it’s like an addiction. It’s like what can we do next?”