Mastodon’s Discography Proves that Albums are an Artform in and of Themselves | Metal For Life

(Photo by Clay Patrick Mcbride)

Albums are potentially in danger of being passé. In recent news, many heavy metal bands and musicians have discussed forgoing their traditional album release structure. At best, these bands would just release singles instead, and at worst, they would abandon creating new music altogether (though for some bands, that would admittedly be a blessing), meaning that  albums may soon become a relic of the past, and this is a reality that would be incredibly unfortunate. After all, albums are an art form in and of themselves. The track arrangements and focus on a specific theme can allow the songs to feel unified as a collective and have greater meaning and resonance than if they were released by themselves. If anything, the music, while still being exceptional when taken track by track, can become more impactful when experienced as a holistic piece. As a whole, an album can give the individual songs a greater meaning.

Mastodon (the band) is proof of this. The Atlanta, Georgia based sludge metal quartet consisting of lead guitarist/vocalist Brent Hinds, bassist/vocalist Troy Sanders, rhythm guitarist/vocalist Bill Kelliher, and drummer/vocalist Brann Dailor has a knack for creating albums that are greater than the sum of their parts. While these albums have exceptional standout tracks like “Blood And Thunder” or “Oblivion”, the songs work best when experiencing an album in full. Mostly because many of Mastodon’s LPs are concept albums (I.E. albums that tell a story). Leviathan is a musical reinterpretation of Moby Dick (though there are some artistic liberties taken via the track “Megalodon” because the source material didn’t feature a kaiju-sized shark, but then again, giant sharks are cool so I can’t blame Mastodon for creating a banger in that context); Blood Mountain is about, as bassist Troy Sanders puts it: “climbing up a mountain and the different things that can happen to you when you’re stranded on a mountain, in the woods, and you’re lost”; Crack the Skye is about a soul moving through the ether of space and time; and Emperor Of Sand is about a desert nomad fleeing a death sentence, and given that, Mastodon albums often have stories and themes that extend beyond any one particular song. They are lyrically connected.

Mastodon’s musical cohesion extends to the instrumentals as well. In fact, the musical arrangements and the track placements embody the elements and themes the band are aiming for and the pacing allows the tracks to feel more impactful than if listened to by themselves. For example:  Leviathan (I.E. the earlier mentioned Moby Dick album) features riffs and drum rhythms akin to sailing the stormy seas and battling with gargantuan fish critters, and  track placements amplify Leviathan’s sense of pace, particularly on “Hearts Alive” which is a 13+ minute epic near the end of the album that both narratively and musically acts as Leviathan’s climax. A track that, as great as it is by itself, just wouldn’t have hit listener the same way if tracks earlier tracks like “Sea Beast”, “Iron Tusk”, and “Aqua Dementia” hadn’t preceded it. Due to the fact that it is expertly placed on the record,  “Hearts Alive” is a greater song when listening to Leviathan as a complete album experience.

Crack The Skye is similar to Leviathan in this regard. While Crack The Skye is a very different record (it is a prog-metal experience whereas Leviathan is pure sludge metal), its track placements, pacing, and emphasis on a specific theme is like that of Leviathan (though Crack The Skye’s musical theme is very different from Leviathan’s). From beginning to end, Crack The Skye is perfectly paced with “Oblivion”, builds up with “Divinations” and “Quintessence”, gets atmospheric on both “The Czar” and the title track, and concludes in an epic satisfying manner with “The Last Baron” akin to Leviathan’s “Hearts Alive”. Crack The Skye is paced in a satisfactory manner, and that’s even before broaching the topic of how the LP hammers home the specific musical theme of taking the listener through an outer body experience akin to astral projection. It’s just an excellent record and one that works best when listened to as a whole.

Mastodon’s non-concept albums still generally work better as whole album experiences as well. After all, albums like Mastodon’s debut Remission and The Hunter have their own lyrical themes and focal points (just not in a narrative) and feature the the similar style of expert pacing as other Mastodon records, but regardless, Mastodon’s discography proves a point: album construction is an art form within the already existing artform of music itself. LPs allow awesome songs to become all the better by just existing within a collective that imbue those said tracks with greater meaning and artistic purpose than if they were just listened to by themselves. If anything, albums are another way in which the listener can really connect with the music, making the individual songs more meaningful, and it’s important that both listeners and the artists don’t lose that. Albums really are an artform in and of themselves.