May 28, 2002 - Mastodon and Remission

A week after my last release a new band joins my library when Mastodon released their debut album "Remission" on May 28, 2002. But who is Mastodon? They are a four-piece metal band from Atlanta, Georgia consisting of Brann Dailor (drums, percussion), Bill Kelliher (rhythm guitar), Brent Hinds (lead guitar, vocals) and Troy Sanders (bass, vocals). Mastodon play a unique and interesting style of metal unlike anyone else at this time. It's listed as progressive metal/sludge metal but I don't think it really fits either of those genres entirely; Mastodon is a unicorn, with Sanders and Hinds all over the place, singing together, separately and alternating depending on the song. Let's see what Mastodon is all about!

The album begins with a two minute song called "Crusher Destroyer" and it showcases the Lightning fast speed that Mastodon can play at with some speedy and cool guitars and some extremely fast and awesome drumming by Dailor. Sanders screams in a raspy voice overtop and Hinds sings a few lines in a fairly heavy singing voice. It all comes together to create a fast, heavy and pretty cool opener. Up next is "March Of The Fire Ants" and Hinds leads the way with a distorted and cool lead guitar riff while Sanders and Kelliher add some super heavy rhythm stuff. Sanders does the vocals by himself on this one and his raspy screaming sounds solid, but it's a little monotone. Dailor's drums are superb once again and after a couple rounds of cool stuff they shift to a more melodic new riff with Hinds and Kelliher playing off each other nicely. This segues smoothly into another new riff that is heavier and pretty cool and eventually they end things as it began with the same distorted riff. A pretty cool tune! Track 3 is "Where Strides The Behemoth" and Hinds leads the way with another fast and pretty cool lead guitar riff. It's another really fast-paced main riff eith everyone working very quickly, including some more fantastic fast drumming by Dailor. Sanders and Hinds both scream overtop in this super heavy and pretty wicked verse and everything is just non-stop metal attacking your ears, I Love it! The next track is "Workhorse" and it's got an offbeat opening riff that hits at all the oddest times, but makes for an interesting riff. After this long opening they smash into a more typical main riff with lots of fast drums, bass, guitars and some raspy screaming by Sanders. Hinds lead guitar sounds particularly great and these guys don't seem to have a low gear, it's all go all the time! Another high energy and very technical song that is very well executed. Track 5 is six minutes and it's titled "Ol'e Nessie" and Hinds plays a slow-ish (slow by the standards we've seen so far) lead guitar riff that sounds pretty epic to lead the way and Kelliher nicely backs him with a similar rhythm guitar riff. Sanders and Dailor fall in with some slow bass and some cool fast drums respectively and it's all the cool.drumming that has my attention in this otherwise slower riff. Mastodon show they have a lighter, more melodic side to them as well and it's still pretty cool. After almost three minutes without vocals the guitars get louder and more distorted and Sanders finally screams raspily overtop in this solid verse. After a couple rounds they quiet it down once again and bring things to a nice conclusion. Up next is "Burning Man" and Hinds and Kelliher sync up for a loud and interesting main riff, and Dailor is just going berserk on the drums! It's so fast and frantic, yet so crystal clear at the same time, he really is a fantastic drummer! Everything sounds pretty freaking great once Sanders starts to scream the verse, all four of them are just so in sync on this crazy fast metal, it's quite impressive! This is definitely my favourite song on the album, so much awesomeness packed into 2:46! Track 7 is the 7 minute long "Trainwreck" and the first 40 seconds are the sounds if an actual train, chugging along the tracks. Out of this Hinds emerges with a quiet but cool guitar riff, Kelliher and Sanders nicely build around it with some cool rhythm stuff. After a bit of quiet they nicely shift into a similar riff but much louder and the drums and guitars both pick up nicely. Hinds sings the verse on this one and he sounds decent, but he's not as good as Sanders for sure. After several minutes Sanders takes over with some of his typical raspy screaming and I like this a lot more, making things sound much heavier. They nicely jam out this part for a couple more minutes, then they slowly and smoothly wrap things up. The next track is "Trampled Under Hoof" and Hinds plays another distorted and pretty cool lead guitar riff and Dailor's drums are all over the place madness as usual. Sanders nicely screams along with the speedy metal and it's another typical Mastodon main riff, and by that I mean there's not anything typical about it, great contributions from everyone! It's a quick and very, very solid three minutes! Track 9 is another longer song titled "Trilobite" and Hinds plays a nice melodic guitar riff to lead the way while Kelliher plays a slow, super epic rhythm guitar riff in the background. Once the bass and drums join in things shift to a slow, but now very heavy new riff with Sanders screaming and Hinds yelling along with him for a very loud effect. They shift suddenly but seamlessly between slower, melodic parts and faster, heavier parts and they are both pretty sweet in their own way. They do it so well that it really doesn't feel like a six and a half minute song at all, it's really well done. Up next is "Mother Puncher" and it's got one hell of a groovy main guitar riff by Hinds, some more phenomenal and fast drums by Dailor, and a fantastic heavy rhythm section by Kelliher and Sanders that hits nice and hard. It's nearly two minutes before there are any vocals, and you didn't miss them at all, the music was great! Yet somehow, when Sanders joins in, things get even better with tons of great guitar by both Hinds and Kelliher (who sync up at times) leading the way. The ending drags just a tad, but it was largely a pretty awesome song that attacked you from every side! The final song on the album is "Elephant Man" and it's also the longest at nine minutes. It opens with some wind blowing in the background while Kelliher starts us off with a solid rhythm guitar riff. Everyone else joins in to complete this slow main riff that sounds fairly epic and this whole song is instrumental as they smoothly and slowly jam along. Hinds gets a break to spice things up, but he just adds a little extra to the main riff, until finally after several minutes he goes full solo. It's a slow and melodic solo, but he does shred it a little bit at times and it's definitely the highlight of the song. More wind closes it out and this song really ends at the 5:40 mark, then after a minute of silence we get a short "bonus song", that is really just more wind and distortion and completely unnecessary.

That is the end of "Remission" and I thought it was a pretty awesome debut by Mastodon. These guys have really nailed this unique style of metal that is furious and heavy and yet also very technical and at times quite melodic. Brann Dailor is an absolutely amazing drummer too and if this is just their debut, I can't wait to see where Mastodon go from here!