Project: New Releases

Mastodon - Emperor of Sand

The album Emperor of Sand, by Mastodon, is yet another prog-metal masterpiece. Being it's seventh full length studio album, this album contains some of the band's best music to date. To begin with, the lyrical content throughout this album pertains to life experiences the band has gone through in the past few years. Like past albums, Mastodon takes you on a journey from beginning to end with deep concepts that will evoke immediate self-reflection. Several of the band members have experienced being along side a loved one with a terminal illness. This is reflected through the lyrics as songs talk about wandering through deserts while dealing with burdens and questioning existence in general.

Along with the deep lyrical content, the album artwork sums up the concept of the album. It depicts the sultan who embodies the pain that comes with having cancer and watching your loved one go though the pain. The barren wasteland behind him presents a figurative landscape in which the band went through on their journeys with their loved ones. Overall, the artwork is beautiful and captures the eye immediately.

The song quality in this album is some of their best writing in their career. You should expect to hear an ample amount of riffs that will surprise you and make you bang your head! Along with the riffs, three of the four members will be heard on vocals which adds nice texture in multiple songs. Lastly, the band made a point to have the songs be as three-dimensional as possible by adding quirky sound effects. Theres everything from classic-rock to modern metal in the riffage and as each song goes on the music gets better and better.

Mastodon recorded at home in Atlanta while also doing demo work in their guitarists Bill Kelliher's basement. The guitar tones on this album are a mix between boutique Friedman and classic Marshall amplifiers and Gibson guitars fitted with a multitude of pickups to give that classic sludgy and heavy Mastodon tone. The drums were said to be voiced like a classic 70's kit to give it a more larger and fuller tone. The bass is subtle in this album, but has a few moments in the lime light so it too can stand out. In summary, this record was produced exceptionally and will not disappoint.