Mastodon - Album Reviews

The first Mastodon album without Brent Hinds finds the band rediscovering themselves, leaning further into their prog-rock tendencies without sacrificing the crushing riffs and heaviness fans have come to know and love. From the unrelenting opener “Barbarians Blood” to the melancholic, psychedelic sprawl of “The Vanishing,” Marrow Deep pulls from every era of Mastodon while still feeling like the beginning of something new.

It’s as exceptional on the 500th listen as it was the first time I heard it in full back in high school. The raw aggression Mastodon carried over from Remission evolved here into a near-perfect collision of sludge metal and progressive rock: powered by thunderous, relentlessly inventive drumming, beautifully woven guitar solos, and some of the most memorable riffs the band has ever written. Leviathan feels complete. There are the anthemic staples of “Blood and Thunder” and “Iron Tusk,” the circle-pit insanity of “Megalodon” and “Aqua Dementia,” and the nearly 14-minute prog epic “Hearts Alive,” bringing Captain Ahab’s doomed pursuit of the white whale toward its inevitable end. It’s heavy, chaotic, adventurous, and strangely beautiful: a record that perfectly captures the obsession and turbulence of Moby Dick without ever letting the concept overwhelm the music. Leviathan launched Mastodon into another stratosphere and kicked off one of metal’s great three-album runs.