Mastodon, Dethklok, Converge, High on Fire
Aragon Ballroom
Sat Oct 17 2009

Let’s see..pick one….Dethklok, Mastodon, High on Fire, and Converge…. I pick Mastodon, MASTODON, M-A-S-T-O-D-O-N!!!

Yeah, I know, High on Fire, Converge are on the bill, and they’re ok. (I’ll take High on Fire over Converge as of now). Converge?!? What’s there deal? Constant vocal grunts and shouts over sharp distained metal chords? This grows old fast 2 songs in…and this is a 7 or 8 song set! What’s with all the hype over this band? I’m trying to get it, to keep an open mind…yet I don’t get it, nor do I wish to…

Then there’s the headliner Dethklok. Again, just ok..I get the catoonish campy slick dire-faced metal based on the characters from the Cartoon Network show..but this bill is odd, because personally, Mastodon should be the headliner. Mastodon define the essence of forward thinking, dynamic metal. Thought provoking intelligent metal, in the vein of Opeth, with a smattering of Tool, what with the vivid imagery and ball-busting music to back it up…not many bands have the panache to pull this off, albeit convincingly…Mastodon is one of them. Mastodon went completely NUTZO in presenting their latest epic live- that being the completely awe-inspiring “Crack the Skye”. The beauty of this album live, even in the bizarre confines of the Aragon Ballroom, was positively a sonic and spiritual overload of the highest order.

Visually striking, the band provided an L.E.D. backdrop, depicting the intricate imagery from their latest album, involving what I perceive is the LSDish Russian mystic Rasputin, floating inward and outward through space and conceptual dreams, astral projection and other out of body experiences. Combine this with heavy blue and red lighting on the musicians, and this show becomes an absolute journey from beginning to end.

Brent Hinds and Bill Kelliher flank stage left and right producing incinerating notes of guitar interplay that’s an absolute shock and awe to behold..then you have the mighty Brann Dailor on drums, whose blistering fills and complex timing are a sight to behold and witness live. This band is tighter than tight, with Troy Sanders on bass and singing his lungs out to help produce this sonic onslaught.

And after their mind-melting performance of “Crack the Skye”, Mastodon proceeded to fill the remainder of their set with tracks from “Leviathan” and “Blood Mountain”…they ended their set with a blazing cover tune from the Melvins, a song called “The Bit”. It’s cool that they dig the Melvins, a band which also has the tendancy to blow the roof off whatever venue they’re playing in… Clearly, the night belongs to Mastodon. This band will blast through anything and anybody. The sonic mind-melting bone-crushing onslaught tells me that it’s going to be fun watching them develop their live show, similar to Tool’s, in which it will leave the average concert-goer a convert and drained at the end of their set both mentally and physically. It’s only a matter of time…these guys are that bright and thought provoking.