Mastodon - The Hunter

Mastodon - The Hunter
Genre: Metal/Progressive
Rating: 7/10

Progressive Metal's favourite sons return with The Hunter the bands fifth studio album and already as expected seem to be winning more accolades and critical praise than ever. As a band Mastodon's profile has gone from strength to strength since their 2002 debut Remission with pretty much all of their releases to date recieving critical acclaim aplenty whilst being championed as the new kings of metal by the alternative music press. The bands sound is characterised by a complex mix of fast heavy riffing and swirling elaborate solo's underpinned by ferocious vocals and fierce rythm section. The bands last effort 2009's concept album Crack The Skye saw the most notable change in style with the band ditching their harsh vocals for clean melodic singing. Inevitably this lead to some of their fanbase claiming that they had "sold out" this aside the choice to move to melodic vocals did bring up a few issues which took a toll on the record. One of the main issues was choice of singer, whilst most mastodon albums featuring vocals from all band members the singing on Crack The Skye  predominantly fell to guitarist Brent Hinds and whilst screaming/shouting Hinds is a force to be reckoned with melodically his voice is very nasal and drawn out. The Hunter however couldn't be further from Crack The Skye if it tried.

Whilst many of the bands previous efforts have been highly conceptual albums focusing on a narrative or theme The Hunter is a more stripped back and simple affair, feeling more like a collection of songs rather than an album that needs to be played start to finish to gain the full benefit of its message. As far as overall sound is concerned The Hunter feels like a step back towards the slightly simpler sound of the band during its Leviathon years. One of the most notable changes is the singing. Whilst the majority of the singing remains melodic the bands bassist Troy Sanders seems to have picked up the role of lead for the majority of the tracks which is a welcome change indeed as his vocals fit much better. Hinds own vocals have also undergone an immense improvement in terms of melody and range. The music as ever doesn't disappoint the duelling guitars seem very driven and the frantic drum work of Brann Dailor keeps things plodding along at a steady pace whilst odd technical flourishes ensure that you don't nod off. Highlights include single "Curl Of The Burl" a brilliantly restrained track that see's the band at their most accessible and the outright headbangers delight "Spectrelight" which see's the band relentlessly pummel the listener into the ground with astonishing resolve whilst Neurosis's very own Scott Kelly howls and growls in his own rattled out fashion. Closing track "The Sparrow" and title track "The Hunter" are also both worth mentioning as they showcase the more serene prog rock tendencies of the band and show that whilst the bands latest release may be more accessible than their more concept laden albums they have not lost their ear for the more epic sprawling tracks. "The Sparrow" in particular sees the band transcend from a sparse echoey beginning reminiscent of Porcupine Tree into the doomy throws of a sabbath-esque riff before spiralling into a complex solo with meticulous attention to detail. The biggest downside to the album however is consistency, whilst the standout tracks are some of the best material the band have released to date for every brilliant track there is at least one sub standard one. Whether this is the result of the bands move away from the heavier aspects of their earlier work or just the album being slightly too lengthy it does somewhat drain some of the enjoyment out of the record. Whilst the weaker moments aren't awful they do disrupt the flow and tend to blur into the background and I personally feel if the band had dabbled a little more with their experimental nature or even just thrown in a couple more heavy tracks this could have been avoided.

Overall Mastodon have delivered another good album with The Hunter. The only thing that stops this record from being truly amazing is the unmistakable feeling that something is missing. Whilst this isn't the bands best album to date it probably is their most accessible so I'd still recommend it to anyone with an interest in metal music.

Download: "Spectrelight" "The Sparrow"