Kingcrimsonprog
Mastodon are a band that constantly progress over time and have slowly moved from a very extreme band heavily influenced by Sludge and Stoner, with short and ferocious songs to a more eclectic band heavily influenced by progressive rock with mostly long and complicated ethereal sounding songs.
Call Of The Mastodon collects together the band’s early work, (mostly the now rare Lifesblood EP) and as such has very harsh vocals, fewer clean passages, no keyboards and even has occasional blast beats.
If you are only a fan of the band’s newer work, or are coming to the band from a purely progressive rock background then it may be advisable to give Call Of The Mastodon a miss, as the very fast, nasty and heavy music may be too far removed from what you are expecting.
If however you are mostly a fan of the more extreme side of metal, then this album is certainly worth exploring, presenting the stylistically most violent and harsh music the band ever released. Punishing sounds, inhuman speeds, gutteral vocals and very low tuning are very much the order of the day.
The new artwork fits well with the overall Mastodon style, and the production job while not on a par with their main albums is not as bad as you may hear from similar releases by other bands.
Overall, whilst a musically strong release in its own right, how much you enjoy this will ultimately be determined by how much you like the different ends of Mastodon’s spectrum. Put simply; do buy if you love Remission, maybe don’t buy if Crack The Skye is still a little too heavy for you in places.