MASTODON: Hushed & Grim (PROGRESSIVE METAL): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

He was the fifth member of the band, the one who believed in them when Mastodon was still a bunch of buddies playing underground metal in Atlanta clubs. In a few years, he took them from being an outsider to a monument of world metal. Sadly, Nick John passed away in the fall of 2018 from pancreatic cancer. For Mastodon, the loss was immeasurable. In addition to their manager, the Georgians lost a friend and a brother. So once again, grief was the driving force behind their eighth studio album, "Hushed And Grim". Just like in 2009 when the death of Brann Dailor's sister Skye inspired every composition on "Crack The Skye", like in 2011 when the death of Brent Hinds' brother in a hunting accident led to "The Hunter", like in 2017 when doctors diagnosed Troy Sanders' wife with cancer just before the recording of "Emperor Of Sand". Mastodon's music feeds on tragedies as poetry feeds on spleen, to get closer to excellence each time, until reaching it totally with this exceptional "Hushed And Grim".

From the cover of the album and its pagan symbolism to the overwhelming and titanic 'Gigantium' that closes it, Mastodon's music has never been so inhabited and so coherent. Never has the emotion been so palpable. Never the band seemed so welded around a project as crazy and ambitious as that of composing a double album in the era of the generalization of musical platforms. And never has the music of the Georgians been so difficult to define. Because, as usual, the musicians mix styles with a disconcerting ease and aplomb, calling pop ('Sickle And Peace') and country ('The Beast') to the rescue of their flamboyant metal without ever getting rid of a recurrent psychedelism which makes all the originality of their music and which points behind each solo of Brent Hinds.

If since "Crack The Skye", Mastodon has never ceased to develop the melodic aspect of its compositions, it reaches here the apogee through heartbreaking doom/sludge ballads like the magnificent 'Skeleton Of Splendor', 'Dagger' and 'Had It All', truly inhabited by their singers. The band has always relied on its luck of having three singers (drummer Brann Dailor, bassist Troy Sanders and guitarist Brent Hinds) and here they achieve such a perfect osmosis between the three voices that Markus King's guest appearance on the huge 'More Than I Could Chew' almost goes unnoticed.

But even if grief dominates this stunning double album, anger is never far away and allows the band to carefully avoid any pathos. Mastodon remains above all a metal band capable of devastating riffs ('The Crux', 'Savage Lands', 'Peace Of Tranquility') and of composing titles whose progressive component adds to the admiration that one can carry to its creativity, like the incredible 'Gobblers Of Dregs' which borrows as much from Yes as from Tool while keeping all the power of Mastodon.

Impressive of mastery, fervor and density, "Hushed And Grim" is a monumental album that ranks at the top of Mastodon's discography and at the top of the list of the best albums of the year. Magistral! - Official website

MASTODON

HUSHED & GRIM

REPRISE

PROGRESSIVE METAL