Mastodon
Once More Round The Sun

Adjusting the aim compared to the previous "The Hunter" (which left a bit of a bitter taste due to numerous digressions and contaminations, shifting the sound to atmospheres ranging from psychedelia to stoner to highway rock), the new album "Once More Round The Sun" refocuses the Mastodon trademark without compromise.

Accompanied by a massive promotional campaign and introduced by the first single "High Road," this official sixth studio album is an inextricable ride of guitar riffs and rhythmic avalanches that with eleven tracks brings back the mood of the Atlanta band to the levels of their debut works. No ballads, no indulgence in lyrical outbursts, only some residual concessions to the more American veins of the genre, which here and there betray the origins of Brent Hinds and company; but certainly, it no longer has the mossy taste of the Rocky Mountains that "The Hunter" had fed us.

Speed and technical balancing acts hold sway from "Tread Lightly" to the final "Diamonds in the witch house," without betraying the expectations of the purest and most brutal prog-metal exegetes. Brann Dailor spins his drums like he hasn't since the days of "Blood Mountain," and Hinds' cavernous and rough voice narrates his delusions without poetic indulgences even where the lyrics open up to fantastic visions. All with less tendency towards pure experimentation, but certainly with coherence that seemed lost two years ago. With all that "The Hunter" contained some excellent tracks, the overall impression is that today Mastodon has decided to reassert themselves as new pioneers of a section.

Highlights of the album, in my opinion, are "Chimes at Midnight," "Halloween," "Aunt Lisa," "Ember City." And to be honest, choosing "High Road" as the album's lead single was the least accurate choice possible, as it is the least refined piece of the work with an overtly commercial matrix also revealed by the related video clip.

A comic book-style cover with deafening colors that has nothing to do with the literary and mythological symbols of the old albums; drawn by the grapher Skinner from Oakland, it clashes with the deep fascinations of the music but, upon closer inspection, reflects its chromatic magma.

A badass album. Even after just ten days of rotation, I already count it among the best things of 2014.