Mastodon- The Hunter

After the release of Crack the Skye in 2009, it appeared that Mastodon were ready to become the new kings of progressive rock. Something strange happened on the way to their next album, though, and what emerged was The Hunter. One look at the track list is sure to confuse fans, as the longest song on the album clocks in at five and a half minutes. The Hunter showcases Mastodon in their most streamlined form, producing an album that is, for the first time in their career, immediately catchy.

The album’s hooks come from a strange place for a metal album, with the focus on choruses rather than on one crushing riff after another. This gives the album more of a hard rock feel, with songs like “Blasteroid” seeming to borrow more from the Foo Fighters than Neurosis. With the exception of a few tracks like “Spectrelight”, the album lacks the aggression of their earlier releases. The vocals are now at the forefront, a move that really calls into question how the band will pull these songs off live.

The turn towards more conventional songwriting raises the question of how much of an impact producer Mike Elizondo has had on the band’s sound. Elizondo’s work typically resides in the hip hop category, with hits such as “The Real Slim Shady” and “In Da Club” on his resume. His production is precise and clean, bringing a level of clarity that hasn’t been present on Mastodon albums in the past.

The album’s well-produced nature is its greatest weakness, however, since it robs Mastodon of the intensity that typified their earlier albums. The band no longer sounds like a wild animal thrashing about in a studio, but rather more like a perfectly maintained machine. Each song is precisely crafted, without the unpredictability that made songs like “Megalodon” so interesting in the past.

Also gone is the trend of each album following a different theme that the band has kept going through their first four albums. The Hunter doesn’t have Leviathan’s brooding atmosphere, or Blood Mountain’s unbridled technicality. Each song is meant to stand on its own, and it makes the album feel disjointed. Mastodon do their best work when they are trying to tell a story with an album, and that mentality is sorely missed.

In many ways, The Hunter seems like Mastodon treading water. The title track sounds a lot like “The Last Baron” if that song didn’t ever evolve, and “Creature Lives” ends before it ever really gets going. The great thing about Mastodon is that even when they are treading water, the result is for the most part a lot of fun to listen to. “All the Heavy Lifting” and “Stargasm” are both great tracks that showcase everything the band does best.

Many old fans will likely be upset with this release, given its turn towards verse/chorus structure and the nearly complete absence of Troy Sanders’ trademark howl. But wishing a band like Mastodon stayed the same is like wishing the funny fat kid in 10th grade algebra never lost all that weight. In the long run, it’s better for them, and you probably would have gotten sick of hearing the same joke over and over again anyways.