Leviathan

Knowing that Mastodon is an offshoot of pioneering progressive post-hardcore band Today Is the Day may give prospective listeners a clue as to what awaits them on 'Leviathan', but will probably not prepare them for the sheer metallic thrust and organic complexity of the Mastodon sound.

Often recalling the most jaw-droppingly facile passages from Rush's '2112' mixed with the heaviest bits of Metallica's 'Master of Puppets', the group's music is slightly less heady than that of peers Dillinger Escape Plan or Coalesce, but no less technically demanding. The difference may be Mastodon's obvious roots in metal rather than hardcore or emo; even the screaming vocals sound more like Slayer than Sick of It All.

'Leviathan' is at once serpentine & thundering, simultaneously positioning itself as one of the genre's most ambitious + accessible works, delivering 10 tracks that more than live up to the mammoth image suggested by the disc's Moby Dick-inspired cover art & lyrics.

"Mastodon are among the more stylistically diverse and accomplished of the new crop of indie metal bands."
-ROLLING STONE

"This white whale of a record lashes methodical riffology to nimble-yet-brutal tunes..."
-SPIN

"Unstoppable riffs and throat-poaching from Neurosis' Scott Kelly and Clutch's Neil Fallon seal the deal like a harpoon in your blowhole."
-ALTERNATIVE PRESS

"It's like the Harley-Davidson of metal: lives to rock, and rocks to live."
-CMJ

Personnel: Brann Dailor, Troy Sanders, Brent Hinds, Bill Kelliher.

Recording information: Robert Lang Studios (2004).