Mastodon... Why am I not getting these guys ????

  • Thread starter Thread starter espquade
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when Leviathan came out, it was the first album in a long while that I'd throw in and listen start to finish...I love the different song structures, can't stand rehashed pop formats over and over and over and over and...

I don't think the production is that bad, I've heard a lot worse. people keep talking about Opeth, but they are an entirely different beast. I don't know if clearer sharper production would really benefit Mastodon's music, I think it sounds good a bit "dirtier"

The drummer is amazing, very busy style but the guy can flat out play...guitar playing is good too, I love that for the most part they don't play typical boring rock/metal solos...I don't think it would fit the music style they've got going. Vocals on Leviathan sound like the guy is puking into the mic half the time, in a good way

Anyways, if it wasn't clear, I'm a pretty big fan. I've seen them live 4 times now I think, and it's been good performances and good sound every time.

Someone mentioned Gojira earlier; there's a band I can't get into. I've listened to I think 3 of their discs...well, you could call it listening, as I'm pretty much not paying attention after the 3rd or 4th song cause I find it really boring
 
I don't like them either. My friend keeps trying to get me into them and i have no interest. Then again, I keep trying to get him into bands like Impellitteri and dokken and he has no interest either. I guess we all have different tastes in music.

But it's not just the downtuned and screaming vocals stuff. Children of Bodom and Killswitch both do that they're pretty good. The songs just don't seem to be memorable. They do lack hooks. The seem to be just Blah, Blah, Blah to my ears. Each band tries to imitate one another and the music gets worse and worse.
 
_actual time_":26qnrfdn said:
the few Mastadon tunes i've heard havn't grabbed me, but the underground band that the drummer and one guitarist were in in the late 90s, Lethargy, is one of my top 3-4 technical metal bands ever. also included the guitarist who founded Sulaco. absolutely nuts.

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this. great shit right here.
 
Ultron":1za8qad8 said:
fearhk213":1za8qad8 said:
As far as metal goes for me right now, these guys, Opeth, & Gojira seem to be in constant rotation :rock: .
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I like the way you think. :rock:
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Whereas I love Gojira, but don't like Mastodon. Shows it's all about preference and just because you like and listen prog metal, doesn't mean you have to like all prog metal bands.

This is more to my liking, although more prog tech metal I guess, but I'll post it anyways. Maybe some of you will dig it.

 
espquade":su0ayjot said:
So I picked up a few Mastodon cd's as recommended to me namely Leviathan , Blood Mountain , and Oblivion .

I have listened several times to these and although I think that they are very talented musicians I am still really having a hard time getting into their music .

I think part of it may be the overall low Fi recording quality , but at the same time I am just not digging it . I really wanted too because of all the praise I have heard .

What am I missing , not getting .. ETC or do you feel the same as me ???
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I've got Crack the Skye playing on the stereo now for the last half hour, and thought of this thread.

I've liked Mastodon on and off over the last seven years, and I can see now why I can't right into their music.

The fuzzy tone of their later albums does put me off a bit. But there's a greater issue I have.


They've got excellent riffs and solos, but their arrangement is fairly shitty to be honest. Okay that was a little harsh, but basically the arrangements of the riffs seems so "chop and change"- they just plunk all these really cool riffs together with no room to breathe. If there's space, there is too much space- to the point that it gets boring. The riffs themselves are excellent and evolve as they move along, but when the next riff comes along, it sounds awkward. It's like a tv show that shows a gruesome murder scene and then a stand-up comedy routine, then a sex scene and then a family on a busy street then a stationary shot of a forest with insects buzzing.... It's just a mess, and no feeling between the riffs. It's like they're trying to be like System of a Down (who are one of the few that can pull off complex, oddly juxtaposed arrangements in songs, like Vicinity of Obscenity), but fail miserably.
I do like when one riff is playing and then another just stomps out of nowhere to shock you, but when Mastodon does it, they can't really pull it off, or very rarely at least. They can't seem to blend the riffs together very well, nothing seems to really flow together from one riff to the next. The song The Czar has a better arrangement, but still has the potential to have a better flow.

People put down Lars Ulrich because he's not good at the drums, but he knows how to arrange a song. Maybe he should give Mastodon a few pointers.?



Did I just say that........................... :D :gethim: :p
 
Ultron":2luhow4n said:
Maybe it's their righteous beards?...
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Yeah, it's the homoerotic beard thing that is turning you off :lol: :LOL:

Seriously, I've always disliked screamy, growling vocal. I like heavy music with melodic vocals and some vocal harmony.
 
threadkiller":2znlrzkk said:
Ultron":2znlrzkk said:
Maybe it's their righteous beards?...
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Yeah, it's the homoerotic beard thing that is turning you off :lol: :LOL:

Seriously, I've always disliked screamy, growling vocal. I like heavy music with melodic vocals and some vocal harmony.
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Their album Crack the Skye has more diversity in the vocals. I think sometimes the drummer sings (or maybe it's Bill), and he has a very clean & melodic singing voice. Sounds really good actually. Sometimes they do a bit of "call & answer" which sounds cool.
 
I like what I've heard from this band. I personally find the arrangement approach they and other bands use quite appealing. There's plenty of "standard" pop structure stuff in existence.
 
I tried, I really tried....

There is nothing in this thread I would care to ever hear again.

All these bands sound like the same tired shit I see locally every weekend.

Sorry guys...
 
I like them. I find they're one of those bands where you need to listen to them a bunch of times before you "get" them, and it really helps if you're doing the listening through a quality stereo or a good set of headphones. There's a lot of shit going on for your brain to process all at once, and with music like that I find I need to hear it a number of time before all the little bits start to gel together inside my mind.... something that is impeded if my choice in listening method isn't able to reproduce the full frequency spread or accurately convey the textures of the instrumentation.

I like that they use a fuzzy tone and chunky mutes rather than a standard high gain distortion tone with chuggy mutes, although I can hear how that choice would be hard to translate into a live performance.

I also don't find the song/riff changes to be all that jarring. I think the trick is to listen to the band as a whole rather than focusing on just the guitars... there's usually some sort of sonic consistancy that exists throughout each song.
 
If you don't like the way something or someone sounds............Then you just don't like it. :confused: Simple. You have your own preferences. Why try so hard to fight it? What's with the "I really wanted to like ________"? Why? Because a bunch of others do and they gave you all these examples and reasons why they like _______ ? :D
 
There are little bits and pieces within their songs that appeal to me, but on the grand scale - the picture grande - I don't really gel with 'em. I think they've got some great tones, great songwriting, great "fresh approach", but it does little for me in the "wow this is exciting and awesome" sense. Furthermore, as much as I WANT some fresh aggressive metal, I cannot tolerate cookie monster vocals or groveling Grover bullshit. I know it's an age thing, and it's awesome, and it's simply 'taking it to a new level', but if it sounds anything like what I just mentioned, it gets turned off IMMEDIATELY. I have NO time for it.

Opinions and assholes, everyone's got one.

V. :dunno:
 
ten below zero rocking this shit while driving on a snow covered dirt road at 10,000 feet heading to where mother earth spews forth a natural hotub! :rock:

what's not get! :confused: :D

 
They're are all good musicians, especially the drummer. He's pretty awesome, lots of technique and energy. The problem is their melodies, or lack of it - so to speak. Even though they are a progressive heavy band, i think they loose themselfs a little bit.
 
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