I think it's cuz there aren't many bands that maintain a level of excellence for more than a couple of albums. Mastodon already has (debatable, of course) 4 classic albums under their belt. That's as many full albums as Tool has released in 20 years. The possibility of them keeping it up is small. I haven't been genuinely excited about an album release in a long time, but I'm always in anticipation of new Mastodon
I think I'll always anticipate a new Mastodon album as long as they're a band. Unless this album is worse than The Hunter, my loyalty isn't fading in the slightest.
01 Tread Lightly 02 The Motherload 03 High Road 04 Once More 'Round the Sun 05 Chimes at Midnight 06 Asleep in the Deep 07 Feast Your Eyes 08 Aunt Lisa 09 Ember City 10 Halloween 11 Diamond in the Witch House
The real worry I have is that financial issues will push them to do something more commercial. It's kind of an open secret that Bill Kelliher has been using the Mastodon Facebook page to help sell gear and old tour items for the better part of 2 years now
It's possible. It's definitely put them on tours I know they would not have been interested in otherwise. Prior to their first stint on Mayhem they toured with Cursive. I've known Brent and Troy long enough to know they're prolly not immediately comfortable around a bunch of "metal" guys. Their old band Four Hour Fogger was an audience-baiting noise fest. I saw them one time at a place called The Point where they came out and played one long jam of drone with clips from black and white horror movies playing on the backdrop and a smoke machine. I saw them another time where they came out in bikinis and played sped-up Elvis covers. Brent was naked after like one song. Brann's wife is in a punkabilly/garage band called Catfight! So to have them on tour with a bunch of cheesy shit like Mayhem does has to be all about the cash. I think that's why they've steadily become more and more distant on stage. They barely ever talk at all on stage anymore. I saw Bill play with Primate opening for Saint Vitus and saw Brent come and play guitars with Converge and both occasions they seemed to be having 500x more fun than any Mastodon set I've seen since the 'Leviathan' tour. I think once you get to the level they are there's an expectation not just for the quality of music but a commercial/income aspect that can pressure bands into doing music they don't necesarily want to satisfy all ends. You could see clearly on 'Some Kind of Monster' that Metallica not only have little social interaction with each other anymore, but not much incentive to continue writing and playing music at all. You hear rumblings of The Chili Peppers having a hard time getting Flea back in the studio now. Then last week, it's announced that he's joined a second side project with The Mars Volta guys. I think a lot of bands have a chemistry that's good for a few albums and after that it either becomes a labor of love or a steady paycheck. You also have the issue of metal bands' fanbases growing out of metal and the next generation looking at them as old dinosaurs. This one kid that used to argue tooth and nail with me about the merits of melodeath just posted on fb yesterday about being at a Springsteen concert. The kids that were jamming to 'Crack the Skye' back in sophomore year have usually by now moved on to obsessing over either "underground" stoner/doom/progressive metal bands or hipster hop (cuz girls). Bands Mastodon's size are unlikely to retain a core audience anymore because the music they play lends itself more to an underground/cult fanbase and they've evolved past that now. You can see people just looking for a reason to not like them now. So why not sell out and get some money? I'm just speculating of course. I haven't seen any of those dudes socially since they were recording 'Blood Mountain'. It just seems like there's this invisible clock that's ticking on every band and when it goes off you can either keep plodding away with what you were doing to diminishing returns or you can go in a different direction. The consequences of that are a little more severe for metal bands
I can definitely see some validity to some of your claims but I'm not sure about them. I don't know who Cursive is, but after looking them up I'm really surprised to see that Mastodon toured with them and Against Me! opening. But most of their other tours are usually metal-centric, so maybe that was just them experimenting. They've always seemed to be the kind of band to be down with non-metal bands and stuff. And while I can see your point about their history and what kind of bands they've played with, I think something they've said in recent interviews might hold true. Back when they were in those bands and in their early year in Mastodon, they were still working shitty jobs full time. Now they make (presumably) decent money on their music, they're seen as torch runners of their genre and stuff like that. You can't really replicate what you were doing when you were broke and angry to what you're doing when you're afloat and at least content. I'm not too sure if they used to talk to their crowds a lot, but I've never known them to do so when I've seen them. If anything, I'd figure the more popular they get, the more they do to interact with the crowd because that's what dipshits expect from big bands, otherwise they're "boring". And they last few times I've seen them, Troy and Brann seem to be having a blast. Bill is doing his thing too. The only point I'm not too sure I can refute is the fan one, because it is mostly true.
I don't doubt they make decent money right now, but they prolly aren't making the type of money that will last a lifetime. During Randy Blythe's trial, he showed that his annual income is about $170k. That's nothing to sneeze at, but my dad makes almost twice that. And Lamb of God is a teency bit bigger than Mastodon. Without the old school income from album sales, the lionshare of their income is from touring and merch. Bands like Metallica and Slayer had the benefit of making a lot of money on albums for a good 15 years before mp3s were even available. These new bands are being forced to be creative. That's why some of Mastodon's generation of bands are breaking up: they're not really acclimated to the new music economy.
On the talking on stage thing: they've never been huge talkers, they did used to make funny references on stage and at least acknowledge the crowd.
Cursive is a depressive indie rock band that has a live cello player. Not metal at all. Prior to the attention they got from 'Leviathan', their tours were more diverse and on the outer limits of metal.
Comments
dear jesus please dont let it suck ass with that great of artwork
Prolly not
heritage was alright metal stuff far superior
Cant even get hype for the new Mastodon tbh
I think it's cuz there aren't many bands that maintain a level of excellence for more than a couple of albums. Mastodon already has (debatable, of course) 4 classic albums under their belt. That's as many full albums as Tool has released in 20 years. The possibility of them keeping it up is small. I haven't been genuinely excited about an album release in a long time, but I'm always in anticipation of new Mastodon
BDM>
Not a single bad song on any of their last 4 albums.
I'm excited
>not a single bad song on last 4 albums
>must have never listened to tool
I think I'll always anticipate a new Mastodon album as long as they're a band. Unless this album is worse than The Hunter, my loyalty isn't fading in the slightest.
The front album cover will be this: http://cdn4.pitchfork.com/news/54835/5a3161c0.jpg
Tracklist:
01 Tread Lightly
02 The Motherload
03 High Road
04 Once More 'Round the Sun
05 Chimes at Midnight
06 Asleep in the Deep
07 Feast Your Eyes
08 Aunt Lisa
09 Ember City
10 Halloween
11 Diamond in the Witch House
Once again, the track titles are a light disheartening, lol.
There's always something......they're no better or worse than the last album's.
The real worry I have is that financial issues will push them to do something more commercial. It's kind of an open secret that Bill Kelliher has been using the Mastodon Facebook page to help sell gear and old tour items for the better part of 2 years now
That's a legit concern. Do you think that's because they're legit financially hurting though?
It's possible. It's definitely put them on tours I know they would not have been interested in otherwise. Prior to their first stint on Mayhem they toured with Cursive. I've known Brent and Troy long enough to know they're prolly not immediately comfortable around a bunch of "metal" guys. Their old band Four Hour Fogger was an audience-baiting noise fest. I saw them one time at a place called The Point where they came out and played one long jam of drone with clips from black and white horror movies playing on the backdrop and a smoke machine. I saw them another time where they came out in bikinis and played sped-up Elvis covers. Brent was naked after like one song. Brann's wife is in a punkabilly/garage band called Catfight! So to have them on tour with a bunch of cheesy shit like Mayhem does has to be all about the cash. I think that's why they've steadily become more and more distant on stage. They barely ever talk at all on stage anymore. I saw Bill play with Primate opening for Saint Vitus and saw Brent come and play guitars with Converge and both occasions they seemed to be having 500x more fun than any Mastodon set I've seen since the 'Leviathan' tour. I think once you get to the level they are there's an expectation not just for the quality of music but a commercial/income aspect that can pressure bands into doing music they don't necesarily want to satisfy all ends. You could see clearly on 'Some Kind of Monster' that Metallica not only have little social interaction with each other anymore, but not much incentive to continue writing and playing music at all. You hear rumblings of The Chili Peppers having a hard time getting Flea back in the studio now. Then last week, it's announced that he's joined a second side project with The Mars Volta guys. I think a lot of bands have a chemistry that's good for a few albums and after that it either becomes a labor of love or a steady paycheck. You also have the issue of metal bands' fanbases growing out of metal and the next generation looking at them as old dinosaurs. This one kid that used to argue tooth and nail with me about the merits of melodeath just posted on fb yesterday about being at a Springsteen concert. The kids that were jamming to 'Crack the Skye' back in sophomore year have usually by now moved on to obsessing over either "underground" stoner/doom/progressive metal bands or hipster hop (cuz girls). Bands Mastodon's size are unlikely to retain a core audience anymore because the music they play lends itself more to an underground/cult fanbase and they've evolved past that now. You can see people just looking for a reason to not like them now. So why not sell out and get some money? I'm just speculating of course. I haven't seen any of those dudes socially since they were recording 'Blood Mountain'. It just seems like there's this invisible clock that's ticking on every band and when it goes off you can either keep plodding away with what you were doing to diminishing returns or you can go in a different direction. The consequences of that are a little more severe for metal bands
I can definitely see some validity to some of your claims but I'm not sure about them. I don't know who Cursive is, but after looking them up I'm really surprised to see that Mastodon toured with them and Against Me! opening. But most of their other tours are usually metal-centric, so maybe that was just them experimenting. They've always seemed to be the kind of band to be down with non-metal bands and stuff. And while I can see your point about their history and what kind of bands they've played with, I think something they've said in recent interviews might hold true. Back when they were in those bands and in their early year in Mastodon, they were still working shitty jobs full time. Now they make (presumably) decent money on their music, they're seen as torch runners of their genre and stuff like that. You can't really replicate what you were doing when you were broke and angry to what you're doing when you're afloat and at least content. I'm not too sure if they used to talk to their crowds a lot, but I've never known them to do so when I've seen them. If anything, I'd figure the more popular they get, the more they do to interact with the crowd because that's what dipshits expect from big bands, otherwise they're "boring". And they last few times I've seen them, Troy and Brann seem to be having a blast. Bill is doing his thing too. The only point I'm not too sure I can refute is the fan one, because it is mostly true.
I don't doubt they make decent money right now, but they prolly aren't making the type of money that will last a lifetime. During Randy Blythe's trial, he showed that his annual income is about $170k. That's nothing to sneeze at, but my dad makes almost twice that. And Lamb of God is a teency bit bigger than Mastodon. Without the old school income from album sales, the lionshare of their income is from touring and merch. Bands like Metallica and Slayer had the benefit of making a lot of money on albums for a good 15 years before mp3s were even available. These new bands are being forced to be creative. That's why some of Mastodon's generation of bands are breaking up: they're not really acclimated to the new music economy.
On the talking on stage thing: they've never been huge talkers, they did used to make funny references on stage and at least acknowledge the crowd.
Cursive is a depressive indie rock band that has a live cello player. Not metal at all. Prior to the attention they got from 'Leviathan', their tours were more diverse and on the outer limits of metal.
Fuck yeah. Can't wait for new Anthrax. Worship Music was godly.