Live Review: Mastodon

When Metallica cut their hair in 1996, the history of metal was changed forever. Fanboys of old wept in agony as they watched their favorite gritty band get moderately more handsome as their tunes turned painfully more dull. Anyone care to talk about St. Anger? Didn't think so.

Enter Mastodon. Hailing from Hot-lanta, this foursome of tattooed grizzly men were christened metal's new kings when 2002's Leviathan was released. 

The unique thing about this band that separates them from the pool of other metal acts is their broad appeal: Shifting time signatures and concept albums for the Dungeons and Dragons crowd, riffs so nifty even indie kids can groove to them, and bellowing scream vocals for the hardcore punks who sport ear gages the size of my friends cup of beer. 

All three components were part of the Volcom Tour which made a stop Friday night at The Vogue.

The band was minus a member as guitarist Bill Kelliher was absent due to an illness.

"We had a choice between cancelling this show or continuing on," said bassist Troy Sanders to the audience. "And we said fuck that let's do it!"

The band opened their set by plowing through most of their current album Crack The Skye, a conceptual piece centered around the Russian Revolution of 1917 (so brutal right?), all while the video monitors behind them depicted a creepy Rasputin setting flame to a disenfranchised Czar (totally brutal right?)

Guitarists John Baizley and Peter Adams of the opening act Baroness took turns playing second fiddle on about half of the material while Mastodon played as a threesome for the middle part of the set. 

The true winner of the night was guitarist Brent Hinds who carried the band the whole night with one blazing riff after another. Songs such as "Crystal Skull", which usually get the dueling guitar treatment, didn't loose any of its punch and still kept the pit a'moshin'. 

Yet it was Sanders who drug the whole thing down. While musically he more than held up his part of the bargain, his disposition made it seem he would rather have been anywhere else at the time. Maybe he was missing his nauseous band mate, or perhaps the last year of touring has taken it's toll, or maybe - just maybe - he doesn't think he's having as much fun as he used to.

And that's completely understandable for an act like Mastodon. Four records in seven years is a lot of work in the modern music industry. How many fist pounding anti-anthems about Moby Dick and ogres can you write before the whole thing starts to burn out? Maybe some well deserved R&R would do this band some good. 

But even without a quarter of their band and a front man who enjoyed the shadows for much of the night, Mastodon showed that even on an off night, they still trump every other metal band in existence right now. They don't try to be as earth shatteringly loud as possible, they just are on their own. There is no other way to play but loud when you have tattoos on your forehead. You're expected to be metal. And metal they were... mostly. 

Set List:

• Oblivion
• Divinations 
• Quintessence
• The Czar
• Ghosts Of Karelia
• Crack The Skye
• Crystal Skully
• I Am Ahab
• Circle Of Cysquatch
• Iron Tusk

Encore:

• March Of The Fire Ants
• Blood And Thunder