Album of the Week: Mastodon - Leviathan

     Mastodon have released another song from their forthcoming album Once More Round the Sun, but rather than feature it today (it hasn't been all that long since I recommended "High Road", after all) I figured I'd do you one better and advocate you spend the week with some classic Mastodon.

     Mastodon has such a strong back catalogue that I have a plethora of options for your Album of the Week, but if we're talking classic Mastodon, there's really only once choice: 2004's Leviathan. It's got it all: great riffs and songs, stellar drumming, a multiple-vocalist assault, a lofty concept based on Melville's Moby Dick, and even some kick-ass artwork. There's no denying Mastodon is among the biggest bands in modern metal, and this is the record that put them on the throne.

     Now, if you already dig Mastodon, chances are you know how good this album is, and you should need no further prompting from me to want to revisit it. But if you're somehow unfamiliar with the band, or you're only cozy with their newer material, you owe it to yourself to check Leviathan out. Their newer stuff is, of course, good (Crack the Skye being beyond "good" and into the realm of "fucking awesome") but there's nevertheless something special about Mastodon's great white whale.

Song of the Day: Mastodon - Blood and Thunder

     I've never read Moby Dick. I've tried, mind you, it's just a grueling slog of a read getting Ishmael aboard the Pequod and I've never finished Ahab's quest for vengeance. But thankfully I don't have to. I can instead rely on Mastodon's 2004 opus Leviathan to give me the gist.

     Or not. Either way, "Blood and Thunder" is badass, and the kind of song that might just be worth losing a leg over, provided of course that a health supply of sweet, sweet whale oil is included in the bargain. Artificial illumination for all!