The genre shift is noticeable in the less-abrasive and more melodic vocals as well as in the soloing. Perhaps in part this is due to the influence of Nick Raskulinecz, the producer probably best known for his work with the radio-friendly stadium rock of Foo Fighters. But genre is well worth mentioning with regards to Once More ‘Round the Sun because it is here that Mastodon leave metal behind altogether and plant their flag firmly into hard rock. Where does metal-core end and math-core begin? No-one cares. As the title itself perhaps hints at, there is very little on Once More ‘Round the Sun that Mastodon fans won’t have heard before.Īrguing about genres and subgenres within the heavier end of rock and metal is a sure-fire guarantee of tedium.
His comments are equally applicable to Mastodon: they certainly haven’t run out the energy needed to hurtle through furious thundering riffs but there is a real sense of repeating themselves here. Mike Haliechuk, guitarist from Fucked Up, recently questioned how long heavier bands can continue before they run their course and the fire in their bellies goes out, with reference to his band’s latest, Glass Boys. On Once More ‘Round the Sun, Mastodon find themselves bitten in the bum by the law of diminishing returns: this latest LP is the spiritual successor and follow up to 2011’s The Hunter, their least interesting release, and it is by and large more of the same.
But, the bad news, is having ‘it’ enough? Not quite, no. Mastodon were once the widely acknowledged titans of heavier music but their stock has slipped of late, especially amongst their earlier fans, and the question increasingly asked is ‘do Mastodon still have it?’ Well the good news is that if you define ‘it’ as ‘the ability to construct a killer riff’ (and really, why wouldn’t you?) then the answer is a definitive ‘hell yes’.
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