The April issue of Decibel (#42, Deicide cover) is the best one in a while. Consensus holds that this is due to a great string of longer, in-depth articles in the middle. I’m happy that people are still willing to sit down and read. Metal sites and publications are overrun now with “quick bits” headline skimming. It’s junk food: empty visual calories.
March of the Fire AntsOl’e Nessie
Much more filling is D.X. Ferris’ superb outtake chapter from his forthcoming book on Slayer’s Reign in Blood. (You can read an excerpt from the book here.) The Glen Benton feature is also a good excuse to work inverted crosses into as much of the layout as possible. Every metal magazine should have 66.6 record reviews.
Also satisfying is the Hall of Fame feature on Mastodon’s Remission. Now, Mastodon are hardly my favorite band. They’re awesome live, but on record they’re too digressive and ungrounded for me. I realize, however, that their appeal lies in being digressive and ungrounded. Their innovation is heaping upper-register information on top of dirtbag influences like Neurosis and The Melvins. Melody moves units, which is partly why Mastodon have done so well.
Remission is by far my favorite Mastodon record, as it balances killer riffs with their trademark artsy noodling. “March of the Fire Ants” has one of metal’s all time great riffs; “Ol’e Nessie” puts King Crimson in a denim jacket. Leviathan and Blood Mountain make me go, “That’s interesting,” but Remission makes me go, “Yeah!” Reading seven dense pages on it, including an interview with cover artist Paul Romano, makes me dig it that much more.
Remission is available physically at Relapse and digitally at Amazon.
Remission is still their finest moment as far as I’m concerned. Everything else went downhill after this, which happened to coincide with the increase in clean vocals.
Heh, I have to disagree again. I greatly prefer their more refined direction, with the vastly improved dual vocals and such. But yeah, how can one not love Remission? It was the opening riff of “March of the Fire Ants” that first turned me on to Mastodon’s stuff.
That Slaeyer piece in the new dB, though, is unreal….talk about exhaustively researched. If that chapter didn’t make the book, then the book must be awfully good.
I concur with your thoughts on the latest issue. This one was my first of my yearlong subscription, and it’s just terrific. Great writing coming from them.
I, like the others, LOVE Remission. But I’m with AB, as well. I prefer their latest stuff. I’m going to get shouted out of here, I’m sure, but Blood Mountain is my favorite album of the decade so far. I adore it so.
Nobody will shout you out of here, Wayne. Due to sheer exposure, more people probably *like* Blood Mountain than Remission. But people probably *love* Remission more than Blood Mountain.
Apparently, I forgot that I wasn’t on Blabbermouth for a moment there. hahahaaa
Part of why I love Remission (beyond its obvious face-melting qualities) is that it recalls the thrill of discovery. Nothing quite like finding a new band that you just KNOW is going to skyrocket.
I backed into Remission – I heard it when it first came out, obviously (been on the Relapse promo list since 1996 – the first thing they sent me was Mortician’s Hacked Up For Barbecue, so yeah, I’m old), but it didn’t work for me. Heavy for the sake of heavy, it seemed like, and I wasn’t in the mood, so I missed it’s subtler qualities. But Leviathan kicked my ass so thoroughly (and continues to do so) that I figured I oughta go back and see what I might have missed on the first go-round. So now I like it, better than Blood Mountain anyway. But Leviathan is still my favorite.
And yeah, the Benton issue of Decibel is pretty solid. Much better than the At The Gates issue, in which I swear I didn’t find one article worth reading. If it hadn’t been for Scott Seward’s mind-roastingly awesome Ayreon CD review, it would have been a total wash.
I have to agree about Remission, i love Leviathan and Blood Mountain but the new one did take me a while to get into whereas Remission just hits you in the face straight off. Plus it has by far the best named song of the last 20 years, Motherpuncher…
One thing that always grabs me about “Remission”, (and there are probably not many people thinking this) is that i’m always reminded of the early 90s hardcore band Unbroken. their ‘Life. Loss. Regret.’ has so many breakdowns and vocal parts that sound like the early demos for much of what is on ‘Remission’. especially that line of vocals of the chorus in “March Of The Fire Ants”. the similarities haunt me.
DanO, that’s a really interesting comparison. I’ll load my MP3 player with Unbroken and see if I hear what you hear.
Mastodon turned me on to a lot of heavier music in general and was the first concert I went to that completely blew my mind. Leviathan was the album I picked up first by them and then Blood Mountain. Remission was the last one I picked up and maybe for that reason I don’t hold it above the rest. But what I don’t understand is what you mean by “digressive and ungrounded”. Please elaborate?
Well, they wander a lot, and they don’t keep a consistent groove – which are both pluses and minuses.