MASTODON The Hunter CD (2011)

After the conceptual heaviness of Crack The Skye, Mastodon did something nobody expected: they made a personal record. The Hunter was written in the shadow of Brent Hinds' brother's death, and it carries that weight without ever becoming a dirge. It's actually their most accessible album, which somehow made the metal purists nervous and the rest of us very happy.

This is progressive sludge metal that breathes. The riffs still crush, but there's space here, odd tunings sitting next to genuinely melodic passages, the band trusting the songs enough to let them open up. "Curl of the Burl", "Blasteroid", "Spectrelight" with its guest turn from Scott Kelly of Neurosis, these aren't just tracks, they're the sound of a band at the peak of their powers doing exactly what they wanted. In the canon of alternative metal that actually challenges you, The Hunter holds up hard.

2011 CD. Full length album. USA. Progressive metal, sludge metal, alternative metal.

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