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Rating: I waited far too long to find it, but in the end, I succeeded. I finally found the band that identifies with the word "calcinculo" (written as one word). I'm not talking about the fastest, most violent, heaviest band, no way; it's easy to point at a grind-core band and say "wow, these guys really hit hard, they're calcinculo!", even easier would be to say of a black metal band "hihi hahahahaha, how pathetic!" (indeed, it would be too easy).
This concept is difficult to explain in 1800 characters, easily misunderstood, and not very easy to grasp for someone who listens to power metal. (In this regard, I invite all Gamma Ray listeners to stop reading, go out, take the dragon for a pee, and collect the bard costume from the dry cleaners). I understand the power metal fans who came in, saw the whale and the boat, and thought: "Yeeeeaaaaah, super epic Tupa Tupa Tupa!!!". Who cares, you got fooled. Mastodon tricked you with the excuse of a concept based on Moby Dick. But especially YOU, who confuse Mastodon with Masterplan. Admit it, power metal fans, you came in thinking "yes, they're the ones Power Zone praises, the ones with the former Helloween drummer, it's them, the whale, Fabio told me so (damn, all the power metal listeners are named Fabio), I'm sure". It's always you, can you hear how my best friend Brann Dailor hits? Eh, can you hear it? Uli Kush is nothing compared to Brann, the friendliest drummer in the world eats your power metal drummer with polenta and mushrooms. Tell them Brann, that there's no one like you. Come on everyone, "BRANN DAI-LOR, BRANN DAI-LOR" go for it damn it!!! (to be sung with a raspy voice as if just extinguished, those who go to the south curve in Milan will understand this). In Mastodon, there are people from TODAY IS THE DAY, not from Helloween, don't you dare compare reverend Steve Austin with that German priest Kai Hansen. NO! NO! NO! Can you believe it, both the immense (Mastodon) and those Hammerfall jerks grew up listening to Maiden and look at the difference at thirty years old, the first bring down the roofs of arenas, the others bore their listeners. The concept of "calcinculo" doesn't reside in your minds, power metal fans.
Maybe I'll try to explain it to you because you evoke tenderness, but don't tell my Straight Edge friends, they'll make my nose bleed with headbutts. It all sums up in a phrase of my legendary grandfather (known as Gintantarobba). "Power is nothing without control" (bow). Not Pirelli, Tronchetti Provera was looking for tantarobba in the herbalist shop (called larrobbadura of Gin) and heard this gem coming out of grandpa’s mouth, adapting it to the commercial of his small tire company (which determined his fortune, but also a bit of Afef's). Trust my grandfather, he was a serious and reliable person before he started going around the streets with the shoehorn still attached to his foot or his pants on backward. He was a man to be trusted. Thinking about it now, that phrase is perfectly suited to the four from Atlanta. Mastodon represents the proof of controlled power at the service of mass destruction. Look at the previous album Remission. Tell me if people who make metal-core aren't laughable with titles like "Trilobites". They don't make you laugh at all; rather, they're terrifying, I can't listen to them in the car because I'd crash, I have to listen to them sparingly because they are addictive... I found the musical alter ego of kicks in the butt.
PS: A big big shoutout goes to that number one agency LIVEITALY (or whatever it's called) that managed to piss off Mr. Smile Brann Dailor with their imaginary snowstorms. Thanks from the bottom of my heart.
PPS: Hooray for babes.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Blood and Thunder (03:49)
I think that someone is trying to kill me
Infecting my blood and destroying my mind
No man of the flesh could ever stop me
The fight for this fish is a fight to the death
White whale - holy grail
What remorseless emperor commands me
I no longer govern my soul
I am completely immersed in darkness
As I turn my body away from the sun
White whale - holy grail
Split your lungs with blood and thunder
When you see the white whale
Break your backs and crack your oars men
If you wish to prevail
This ivory leg is what propels me
Harpoons thrust in the sky
Aim directly for his crooked brow
And look him straight in the eye
White whale - holy grail
02 I Am Ahab (02:46)
There's magic in the water that attracts all men
Across hills and down streams
The turning of the tide
Outlook
Future bright
Selfish
Beauty shines
Light cloud rain drive on
13 years to this day red planet aligned
Into sight 60,000 years of light
Fascination with a mountain put to sea
Built to slay and conquer
All with teeth of beasts
03 Seabeast (04:15)
If I stand around
And watch them drown in a pool of gray
When we dive in, I can surely say there's feud with force
Am I in your way?
Please knock me down, can I help you in?
When I'm not around let us all be found in certain ways
Dear Mr. Queequeg, you have been informed your life's been saved
You are not a black-hearted vicious mess so it has been claimed
If this is the beast
Pulling us towards the east with mighty waves
Let us look inside
And pull out all your pride, you know it's up to us
Holding pasts in ash black earth
Bound by roots
Roots into sand
Grow towards the giver
There's an open wound
Placed upon my heart, in anger's ragp
If we open up a spirit, a spirit that can bleed
Ahab the leading lad we can trust his obsession carries them
Meet us at the temple
Healing all the crippled, don't forget the maimed
Lower soul
Sent with gifts offering
Teeth of hope travel with
Child laid next to mother
05 Iron Tusk (03:03)
Straight line
Feel it burst liver and lung
Long and strong
'Til she spills her black blood
Center down
Vast the head body and tail
Shatter life
Physeter catodon
Culture vulture
Elephant graveyard
Culture vulture
Engage monster
Wreaking vengeance
Assault with all martial rage
Sail on
06 Megalodon (04:23)
Myth or legend
Nymph tale washed ashore
Near the kraken sleepeth stirs coral and bone
Infinite city
No sexy sneer
Hideous creation
Human and animal
Banter songs of rudeness to be adhered
Not on rocks that glisten
Harps to listen
Comb hair
Tear right to pieces
Left to recess a watery grave
Sensing the blood of prey
Swimming in fear for life
Rolling over
Falling into jaws
Teeth that chatter
It distracts them all
The Fiji mermaid
She will let it know
Time is coming to feed and knaw
09 Hearts Alive (13:40)
Taken down with hearts alive
Our hearts alive
Lurking dark underground
Descend to the bottom
Swim below eternally
Into the deep blue sea
Time and space
All alone
It can be a lonely place
There it goes
Opening up
I can't stand
I can't breathe
Rolled fin out
Oil stripped
Hold is filled
Ocean coil
Water boils
He swims to the surface
Flame from mouth
Smoke he breathes
Enter the caverns of the deep
Time and space
All alone
It can be a lonely place
There it goes
Opening up
I can't stand
I can't breathe
Terrified
Ghastly cry
Spiraled lives
Taken down
Taken down
The iron side
Bucket of lead
Battle is she
Not for defeat
The iron side
Bucket of lead
Battle is she
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By absint
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