Review Summary: More prog than metal, but will be easily appreciated by fans of either.
This is a prog rock album more than it’s a metal album. I’m not familiar with the previous three albums, but I’ve heard enough to know the situation is reversed with all of them. As a result, I have fewer reservations when it comes to all the reverb, tamborines, gongs, keyboards, and overall… studio enhancements happening here. They’re just that - enhancements. The songs aren’t diminished without them.
The two epics, The Czar and The Last Baron, are both great. I find myself getting bored about halfway through a lot of Opeth songs that cross the 10 or 12 minute mark, but Mastodon manage to avoid that problem here. The heavy riffs kick in at just the right times, and keep the slow intros from overstaying their welcomes, which Mikael Akerfeldt can’t always accomplish with his writing.
This album definitely works better as a whole than it does individual tracks. Songs like Quintessence and Ghost of Karelia seem slightly underwhelming on their own, but in context of the whole picture, they hit harder. That being said, other songs like Divinations, Oblivion, and Crack The Skye have no problem standing up alone. Speaking of the latter, Scott Kelly’s guest appearance fits beautifully and gives the song’s inspiration (the death of drummer Brann Dailor’s sister) the weight it deserves.
It does have to be said however, that the band may have had too much confidence in its live performances while it was in the studio recording. Listening to the performance on Live at the Aragon, which features this whole album (in order, no less), it was clear that they just could not do it justice with their singing. Both Brent and Troy were having trouble hitting certain notes and sustaining others. All four members had no problem with their instruments, but their singing was distractingly sub par, which to be honest, is putting it nicely. There was no real benefit in putting vocal parts on the album that were so difficult to recreate. It didn’t need them. As they say, less is more.
If you can get past the live difficulties, this is a great album, especially for metal fans looking to venture into the world of prog.
