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Macho metal men
Mastodon brings it hot, heavy
Mastodon plays Saturday at the Brady Theater. Paul Natkin
By JENNIFER CHANCELLOR World Scene Writer
Published: 11/8/2009 2:19 AM
Last Modified: 11/20/2009 3:41 PM
Progressive metal act Mastodon is full of meaty, hot-blooded manliness, much like the other bands on Saturday night's bill at the Brady Theater: Converge, High on Fire and Dethklok.
But Mastodon may just be the most fearless.
For this tour, co-headliner Mastodon isn't squeamish about leading its set with all-new material. In fact, it will play its entire new album "Crack the Skye" — start to finish — before pummeling into older tunes from albums "Blood Mountain," "Leviathan" and "Remission," news outlets report.
Here's why that's gutsy: "Skye" is touted as a "concept album." It tells a cinematic tale inspired by the suicide of drummer Brann Dailor's sister, Skye.
And though it was inspired by her, it is a jetpack-launched story of Pink Floydian proportions, incorporating serpentine elements of astral travel, out-of-body adventures, czarist Russia and even Stephen Hawking's theories on wormholes.
In a recent interview with Stereogum online music blog, Sanders said of the album, "We kinda strapped on our aeroshells and departed from Earth for a while, and then captained to the ethereal element of the universe and kind of slept on the roof of the world for a while to get a perspective on this record. Basically we're exploring the ethereal world. We're dissecting the dark matter that dominates the universe, in a nutshell."
That makes it a little hard to slam-dance and follow a storyline at the same time, but critics and fans both love it. Both Rolling Stone and
Spin rated it 4 out of 5 stars.
It's not often that fans and critics agree, especially on something as fiery and hardedged as what the band calls "progressive metal."
In fact, the Atlanta-based band's brand of cinematic, melodic, thrusting, psychedelia-tinged music is overtly influential to many acts worldwide. Metallica loves it. Machine Head loves it.
Its live show transforms listeners into fans. Many claim, tongue-in-cheek, that it's the metal band for people "too smart" for metal bands.
Wrote the Kansas City Star of the band's recent performance there: "Although it shares the prog-rock leanings of Tool and for a few moments grooved like Led Zeppelin, Mastodon adheres to the metal master plan forged by Black Sabbath almost 40 years ago."
Of the tour, guitarist Bill Kelliher said he had no problem playing with Dethklok, a band headliner that's technically an Adult Swim television show and animated band (played with real, live musicians in front of a projection screen).
He told the publication, "There were a lot of kids there for each band but I am seeing a lot of younger folks coming out to the show for the Dethklok thing because they are a TV cartoon, it gets more of the younger fans. But they deliver every night and put on an awesome show, it's really intense, and the cartoon screen behind them is really funny to watch. It's very tongue-in-cheek but it's not super cheesy watching it over and over every night because I usually catch a couple of their songs. It's pretty cool."
The band has no aversion to stretching itself with cartoonish abandon. Recently, Mastodon signed on to write a film score for "Jonah Hex," the most recent comic book-turned-movie blockbuster. The movie release date is June 2010.
Mastodon and Dethklok
with openers High on Fire and Converge
When: Doors open 6 p.m. Saturday
Where: Brady Theater, 105 W.
Brady St.
Tickets: $29.50 and $39.50, plus
fees, at Reasor’s and Starship
Records in Tulsa and Buy For Less
locations in OKC. Charge by phone
(866) 977-6849 or online tulsaworld.com/Protix.
Online: tulsaworld.com/dethklokMastodon
Jennifer Chancellor 581-8346
jennifer.chancellor@tulsaworld.com
By JENNIFER CHANCELLOR World Scene Writer
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