It's hard to believe it's been seven
years since Mastodon
first caught my ear, turning up on some compilation or other with
Remission
highlight Crusher
Destroyer.
I'd be lying if they immediately caught my ear, but they've certainly
been a favorite ever since I picked up Leviathan
a year or so ago, and they very much feel like a band I've grown up
with. So it seems strange that this was only the second time I'd seen
the band, and the first time in a headlining slot (the first time saw
the band supporting Tool).
And it's impressive just how refined the band have become in the past
three years since I saw them. Despite backing the assault on the
metal mainstream that was Blood
Mountain, the
band I saw three years ago still had a great deal of the rickety
sound of their early years. And although the band's performance
couldn't be faulted, the venue seemed to swallow them up, their
club-size gear not being suited to large, the intricacies of the
music being lost in the gaping void of the half-empty arena.
So
it's refreshing to see that three years down the line, the band have
boosted their live show to match the grandiose nature of most recent
release Crack The
Skye. The
sound has lost its' rattling, over-bassed feel, replaced by a
perfectly mixed wall of sound that throws the music into high
definition. Most notably, the band have increased their visual
element tenfold. No longer simply content with a mere backdrop,
Mastodon's
performance is backed by a video screen playing a film (directed by
Neurosis
man Josh Graham, I believe) which attempts to clarify the bizarre
plotline of Crack
The Skye.
It's every bit as trippy and colourful as the album is, moving from
the astral imagery of opener Oblivion
to the hellish scenes of the title track. Not that the film ever
detracts from the stage presence of the band themselves, both Troy
Sanders and Brent Hinds storming around the stage like men possessed,
pausing briefly to throw the horns to an audience member.
The
set-up for the Crack
The Skye
tour should be well-known to anyone following the Mastodon
camp recently, the band playing the album in its entirety, then
moving on to a second set of older material. The new material, while
never really deviating from the album (bar an extended solo to close
out The Last
Baron)
is expertly performed, and finding another band who could replicate
such a complex album so accurately on stage would be a rare find
indeed. Surprisingly, even the less immediate double-hitter of the
title track and Ghost
Of Karelia
goes down a storm live due to the sheer power of the band's
performance. But it's the second set in which the band come into
their own, letting loose with a salvo of deep cuts from the band's
catalogue. Blood
Mountain
only gets one song, with Leviathan
and
Remission
getting the lion's share of the set, the likes of Mother
Puncher and
Where Strides The
Behemoth
being genuine surprises tonight. Going back to their spastic, sludgy
roots only serves to make the band even more of a force of nature on
stage. And after a rendition of Iron
Tusk
that could decapitate those in the front row, the band wrap up
tonight's show with perhaps their first real “hit”, March
Of The Fire Ants.
Eight years down the line, the song has lost none of its power,
perhaps one of 00s metal's defining moments. And then it's over after
an all too short 70 minutes, the band departing to rapturous
applause, their status as on of metal's best-loved bands assured.