Mastodon - Hunter

With heavy music floodgates roaring we have another album to enjoy. Mastadon return with Hunter and they don't sell-out to make a dollar here either. The band continue to be just as furiously wonderful as on previous albums but they are a little more polished this time around. I believe that's more so because of experience than attempts of making a commercial impact.

The bands Black Sabbath influence is highly visible all the way though the album that balances their stoner rock elements nicely not allowing them to fall to far into the blatant jamming that often results in stoner rock.  I really like that they embrace some of the psychedelic on their album like the excellent "Octopus Has No Friends" which could be from a very different time. I really did find much to enjoy on this album like "Dry Bone Valley", "Creature Lives" which was most definitely influenced by the Beach Boys pet sounds era or a little later into the 70's. The vicious "Spectrelight" is another pretty raging heavy tune that just begs to be played as loud as you can possibly handle. On the closing song I hear a very Pink Floyd sound the Roger Waters darkness from the wall era and another of the songs I really enjoyed. A good album with its flaws but still worth a listen for sure.