Climb Up Blood Mountain

A lot of strange things are a foot in the world of Heavy Metal music lately. The endless sub-categorification of the genre has split it into several obscure factions ranging from the awesome, hyper-violent underground of Pig Destroyer to the brilliant, uber-melodic, post-metal of Isis. Outside of giants of metal mainstays like Slayer and Sepultura, there has been a dearth of new, straight-up metal of quality in recent years. With everyone working in their concentrated niches, the path is wide open for a new traditional metal act to inherit the scorched earth left behind in the scramble for obscurity.

The number one contender for most exciting, new trad-metal act is Mastodon, who are playing at the 930 Club on Saturday night.

Mastodon have been impressing the scene for a few years now – first with their brilliant Lifesblood EP, then with their Moby Dick inspired concept opus Leviathan. This time they are touring in support of their mammoth, new album Blood Mountain.

All three releases stand as towering achievements in recent Heavy Metal music. Blasting onto the scene as an ultra-heavy speed-act Mastodon have evolved into masters of the traditional metal structure writing story-tellers in the tradition of Iron Maiden set to musical intricacy and intensity the likes of which we haven’t seen since Slayer.

Catch Mastodon at the 930 Club tomorrow night for $15 a scant two days before old-masters Slayer begin their $40-a-night wallet-rape there on Monday.

Originally published on February 16, 2007.

Now in 2013 all I have to say about Mastodon is "Can I pick 'em or what?!". Also, thank Lucifer for the Heavy Metal renaissance that has been going strong ever since I wrote this article.