With my last surge throughout the bowls of Sludge Metal, i guess it was time to talk about Kylesa, they play a more by the numbers form of Sludge, truer to the purest form of Sludge, mixing in some way Doom Metal, Hardcore Punk and Stoner Metal, with a couple of twists and turns in between. So what “Time Will Fuse Its Worth” is all about?

After a smallish “Intro”, you get right to the heart of it with “What Becomes An End”, shouting vocals, dual guitars, and the weird production, it sounds and feels like hardcore punk, nevertheless it shifts and turns into something else, more like instead of playing straight Sludge, they play all the genres in separate, because even though I’m trying to fit this into a genre, they are crossing a lot of them, musically speaking it’s quite well played and interesting, “Hollow Severer” is one groovy track, starts and works its way in with shouting vocals and sludge like riffing, great track, “Where The Horizon Unfolds” starts a bit slow, but when it gets on going, it gets going (almost in a Mastodon kind of way), solid track.

“Between Silence and Sound” is what i could call a pseudo-intermission, it’s a short instrumental/short music, it’s actually a good mix, then you get “Intermission” and it is what it is…a intermission, mostly a drumming workout, not bad and not too big, but after the last one it’s kind of weird, “Identity Defined” is a speedier track, opening up to a … experimental doom track, with some psycho guitar work, just like in the 60’s, Stoner Metal all the way, and not bad at all, “Ignoring Anger” and “The Warning” are straight to school, sludge metal, another pair of great tracks, building up to the finisher “Outro” that just shows off the double drumming.

Well, it seems they do have 2 drummers, not to put it down, but the single Mastodon drummer, brings more speed, twists and turns, more overall quality and originality, I don’t understand very well the 2 drummers thing, i hope its not to just show off (or i hope not), since i wouldn’t classify the drumming as one of their stronger features, being those the shouting 3 way diverse vocals and the guitar work, oh well its a interesting album nevertheless, but if i had to choose, i would put Mastodon and Intronaut first, but if your into Sludge you might want to check them out.

Official Site Kylesa

Kylesa - Where The Horizon Unfolds

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Intronaut play a interestingly mix variety of music, i would put them in the alternative/progressive metal/rock arena, close in resemblance with what Mastodon excel at, maybe a bit less overwhelming, i don’t know if i would fit it into the sludge category as well, nevertheless loads of skill and sprinkles of loads of genres popping in and out, so how does “Void” fit into this?

“A Monumental Vulgarity” opens the show, and what a show, after a “smallish” intro your just thrown into the groove, sounds and plays out like a Mastodon track, but with a little bit more taste for the eccentric (like Mastodon isn’t eccentric enough), it’s harsh vocals, it’s a constantly changing musical landscape, but all in the same logical sound structure, they are not stopping and playing another thing, they are just changing and mixing the same stuff in an unorthodox fashion, refreshing and not so much Mastodon, the resemblances are mostly in how it all sounds, “Gleamer” (that one you can listen downstairs ^~) is another groovy track, jazz like drumming, with a lot of things thrown into the mix, one thing that starts to show is the bass work, that almost rivals the drumming/guitar, impressive, and infections, plus a full minute in the end of nothing especial, weird.

“Fault Lines” has another minute long intro into this one, nice way to put a intermission, but when it enters high gear you can feel it, this one is a hit hard, soft, hit hard kid of thing, building to a interesting finish, “Nostalgic Echo” gets another rock like intro to another groove oriented almost sludge track, again with clean passages building up to funky metal sections, “Teledildonics” first of all that’s one funny named track, next, it’s probably the best track in the album, how’s that for building “word of mouth”, basically it sounds like Meshugah if they were playing this kind of music, point blank, impressive, sure it has some clean parts, but that seems to be their thing, “Iceblocks” has another almost 2 minute intermission before it gets into overdrive, again good track, last track “Rise to the Midden”, is a good last track, wraps it up nicely, it’s hard, it’s groovy, it is quirky, great stuff.

Intronaut hummm, well it’s difficult to say if i really like it, sure it has a lot of things that one can headbang to, “Teledildonics” being one of them…hahaah yeah headbang to that, and overall it is an impressive album, nonetheless it isn’t a relentless kind of thing, it has a lot of clean passages, and a lot of slow alternative rock twists, that although a clear sign of technical ability, they do hurt the pace of the album, in the third listen i kinda while skipping the end of “Gleamer”, skipped “Fault Lines” as well, just because i though it was too early to such a long intermission, sorry guys, i wanted “Teledildonics” as soon as possible, wait…that didn’t sounded that good, heheh great job, if your into Mastodon or even the likes of Isis or Neurosis, you should check them out, I’m sure everyone will enjoy some “Teledildonics”.

Official Site Intronaut

Intronaut - Gleamer

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From sea huntin to mountain tracking, what can i say, new album from Mastodon, incase you don’t know Mastodon, let me tell you, the name fits the music, their sound is like the prehistoric mammoth like animal, you know, big and hairy, scary tusks, well they play a kind of Technical Heavy Metal band, that mix loads of different genres and styles, from Progressive Rock/Metal to Thrash Metal, from Hardcore to Power Metal, from Sludge Metal to Southern Rock, with memorizing odd ball jazz like drumming (their best feature in a long list of excellent features) and complex heavy guitar riffing, so a new album is here “Blood Mountain”, I’m wondering how it will fare against their critically acclaimed (including myself) last album “Leviathan”.

Gee, like with a couple of other bands, it’s difficult to talk about every single track, since they are so diverse. but I’ll give a go, “The Wolf is Loose” starts things off, and actually sounds a bit like a track from their last album, fast paced thrashing, really catchy, yeah i should note that most Mastodon tracks are above all else really catchy, not because of lyrics or chorus, but because of the drumming and riffage, now back on track with “Crystal Skull”, now this is a bit different, but again very close to the sound of Leviathan, with that freaky astounding drumming from hell and the groovy guitar work, “Sleeping Giant” is something new, again a Mastodon like delivery, slow paced track beautifully carved from progressive metal, eerie…

“Capillarian Crest” is like a mix and mash of genres, never letting down always throwing new stuff in, always in that neat Mastodon technical package, mind blowing track, “Circle of Cysquatch” brings us back to more heavy stuff, drumming going all over the place and a really hookie riffage and a hardcore finisher, just bring it home, “Bladecatcher” is a pure instrumental track and it doesn’t fail, funky as shit, “Colony of Birchmen” is slower paced, with a freaky chorus, even though in parts sounds like a mixture between power metal and progressive rock, it’s actually again a very enticing track.

“Hunters of the Sky” is one of those “experimental groove” tracks, chorus is catchy as hell, “Hand of Stone” is an already a classical Mastodon delivery with loads of different things popping up everywhere “This Mortal Soil” has a bit of an intro into a what i can only describe as some kind of progressive rock, kinda weird, “Siberian Divide” continues with this end of the album eerie feeling, just now with a bit more bite, “Pendelous Skin” is the last track and again a instrumental, completely the opposite from the first one, this one sounds like the sound of the air rushing through the mountains, building up to a music resembling some distorted Soundgarden track, very eerie, sounds like the guy climbing the mountain got himself screwed or eaten by bears.

Mastodon is Mastodon, and as one can expect they delivered, changing to a major label doesn’t seem to affect them too much, also i might point that again like in the album “Leviathan”, “Blood Mountain” is a concept piece, with a back story, and therefore it all makes even more sense, great album, even better delivery, if you like good, strange, hard music, you have a obligation to check this out.

Official Site Mastodonrocks

Mastodon - The Wolf is Loose
Mastodon - Capillarian Crest
Mastodon - Colony of Birchmen

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A pleasure as always, yeah most of the time the shifting repetition under the transcendental drumming, from Che, does tend to give the illusion of self indulgence, however it …. got you people fooled for a moment there, hehhe, anyways i thought they were “dead” seems i was wrong and thank whatever god you pray to, Don Caballero plays math rock, what is math rock? you might say, well wikipedia says it better than i could. were math rocks is “characterised by complex, atypical rhythmic structures, stop/start dynamics and angular, dissonant riffs.” and i believe Don Caballero were (and as it seems continue to be) in the foremost of this genre.

Seems the only original member was it’s most creative and energetic member, Damon Che drumming is for sure the driving force, everything revolves around it’s arrangements, without him it wouldn’t be the same, so how does “World Class Listening Problem” fares with time, quite good as it seems, there are still no vocals, but who cares, music is number one, and some times having vocals is worse than just jamming, and this is a jamming album, whatever the style of music you like, this is simply a delight, i won’t continue my rant, you’ll just have to listen to it, hehehe.

Are we listening to perfection? well the only way i can judge this is by their previous efforts, and it does seem they went a little bit safe, with what they know people would like, is it a bad thing?, noooo, well … maybe, at least for me Don Caballero is supposed to be adventurous to surprise me with weird arrangements, to lick my ears, to make me enjoy and think about music at the same time, and even thought i really enjoyed it, it didn’t made me forget about their later albums, well anyway, its a great album and i hope you people will really like it too (i promise it rocks, hehehe).

Don Caballero - Mmmmm Acting, I Love Me Good Acting
Don Caballero - Savage Composition

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