2011 Voodoo Experience Band Showcase: Mastodon

Rock The Body Electric will be covering this years Voodoo Experience.  Leading up to the event we will be showcasing some of the acts who are playing the show, now the spotlight shines on: Mastodon

Mastodon will be playing Saturday 10/29 @ 4:15 pm on the Le Ritual Voodoo Stage

There can be many late night bar-stool arguments as too which bands were and will be the funkiest, bring the best party or groove the smoothest on the Voodoo Experience stages, but the argument regarding the heaviest group on the bill?  No need for that one as Mastodon has been tapped to bring their ice age riffage to the Le Ritual Stage for the masses.  The sludge metal proprietors from Atlanta aren't all doom and gloom though, they are intellectually conceptual (almost to a fault) and have a keen sense of humor as they wrote tracks for the Aqua Teen Hunger Force Movie, just peep this:


That is bad ass!  The group has really done a number of interesting metal albums/prog-rock at times with their elongated songs and winding concepts.  RtBE got turned on to the group back in 2004 when we heard that a southern metal band had just released an album based on Melville's American Masterpiece Moby Dick.  The album was Leviathan and it is still our favorite from the group.  Here is one of the mega tracks from that release, "Blood And Thunder"



If you are going to put the time and effort into a project like that AND pull it off, RtBE will forever be a fan.  Granted their last few albums have received larger critical acclaim and sales, but the tales of the whale always fell the freshest for some reason, all though I still think Melville should have received a writing credit....


Blood Mountain came next with its complex changes and mental acrobatics amidst searching lyrics (minus the grooves that kept Leviathan engaging and afloat though), and then the tripped out Crack The Skye followed.  It was an emotional journey and a concept about Russian prohpets, time-travel and who knows what else.  Dedicated to drummer Brann Dailor's sister Skye who committed suicide the album deals also with some deep issues.  The 11 minute "The Czar" is typical of the album, long songs that explore a lot of space:


Their newest release The Hunter, isn't going for a concept and things seem to have been better off, it feels like a classic metal album in all regards.  There are traces of Sabbath, Alice In Chains, early Metallica along with a host of other bands, but in the end it still sounds like Mastodon (stay tuned for a full review coming soon to RtBE)  One of the tracks that resonates and even sounds radio friendly is "Curl of the Burl":

This Saturday get your headbanging on @ 4:15 on Le Ritual Voodoo Stage with the lumbering Mastodon