Mastodon live!

Mastodon
Riviera, Chicago
Saturday, May 12, 2007

Mastodon’s 2006 release, Blood Mountain (Warner Bros.), left a gigantic footprint in the heavy metal landscape, causing some to believe the Atlanta four-piece just might rock hard enough to propel the genre back into the collective consciousness. Even hailed by some as the savior of heavy metal, Mastodon convincingly displayed its might at the Riviera Theater in a blistering one-hour set.

The band focused mainly on the recent critically-acclaimed album, which oozes a dark, fantasy aesthetic, like a twisted version of Lord Of The Rings with songs about wolves on the loose, tree folk in the forest, and winged hunters in the sky.

Bassist/vocalist Troy Sanders stood centerstage, writhing and staggering to the frequent tempo changes on songs such as “Crystal Skull.” Sanders provided bottom-end vocals, with a gruff delivery to match his black attire and ill-tamed shocks of beard and hair. Brent Hinds, equally shaggy, pushed the boundaries of his flying-V guitar and contributed fierce vocals that were as urgent as the fevered ranting of a doomsayer. Guitarist Bill Kelliher worked off the two frontmen as the band alternated from manic thrash metal to the grooviest of stoner rock (exemplified early on in the set with the epic “Circle Of Cysquatch”).

With zero stage banter between songs, the four instead anxiously forged on, not as if to reach the end of the set, but eager to tell their tale as if they wouldn’t be allowed to finish. The set slowed once, even mellowed, with the meandering guitar leads and drum interplay on the intro of “Sleeping Giant.” That soon ended with the awakening of the tempo, punctuated by Hinds’ wails and Sanders’ moaning vocal styling. The song ebbed to a lull only to crash again, to the delight of the medium-sized crowd.

Drummer Brann Dailor, the backbone of the rock beast, was virtuosic in his performance as the skilled timekeeper amid the band’s frequent tempo changes and complex rhythm arrangements. Looking the part of a jazz drummer in a plain white T and blond buzz cut, Dailor hacked a deliberate and artistic trail through the sonic tapestry.

The band stumbled once, on the soaring “Bladecatcher,” a song that playfully alternates from cartoonish grindcore to guitar lead jam. During one of the multiple, dual-guitar and drum battles, the rhythm took a sidetrack for a moment, perhaps only to show the band is human.

Later, the frantic guitar interplay and maximum drum fills went to the limit again in “Capillarian Crest.” After nailing one such interchange, the song pulled back to allow for Sanders’ vocal delivery — eliciting a roar of relief from the mosh pit — but then dived back into the thrashing until the crescendo ending, like massive boulder on the loose and flattening everything in its path.

— Jason Scales

Category: Live Reviews, Weekly