The Doom Room: ILF Edition

[ShaolinLambKiller]

hahahaahahaha solid approach

[Iommic Pope]

Australia (Brisbane in particular) has this nasty habit of turning up people who know people.
You gotta be careful sometimes.

[samzadgan]

At least its not tasmania where everyone is related...

[Iommic Pope]

It is pretty fucking close, though. Everyone in Brisbane knows fucking everyone. Its painful.
Like, half a degree of separation.

[conky]

I actually enjoyed that Mastodon clip. Sure, there were parts of Brann's vocals that were a little shaky but how can you not have that when you're drumming at the same time? I wish he would stop singing and go back to the crazy drumming like on Remission, but that's just me. I feel that Mastodon's weakness is in their vocals. Remission sounded so raw and vicious and they don't do any of that anymore. I'm sure after all the time they've been together and the thousands of shows they've done I'd probably get tired of screaming all the time and would maybe wanna change it up some. I don't blame them for not wanting to sound the same on each album, however I will talk shit on their execution of said horrendous clean vocals. The Jimmy Kimmel clip wasn't nearly as bad as this:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktw9XCpDS2M[/youtube]

None of the studio tricks could save the vocals on that album either.

[conky]

I probably should have made a bigger thread for this but I figure it'll get answered quicker here. I wanna Ruetz mod my Rat again. A while back I bought a switch and ended up getting the wrong one. Its an on off on so does that mean I could put the Ruetz mod on one, stock on the other, and Turbo Rat on the other?

[BoatRich]

CEREMONY the HC band from California, Rohnert park was an awesome album.
But yeah, I'd probably be inclined to attempt to make it work - but I feel Mastodon are just belting out crap now.

Also, SLK - I had a trace elliott Speed Twin 50 for a while. They have an AWESOME gain channel!

Violence Violence and Rohnert Park are masterpieces, but Zoo was still a pretty good album? I dig weird Ceremony, it's like David Bowie gone hardcore

[D.o.S.]

D.o.S. guess I'm just madness but that's what everyone told me back in the day when it was released and I spent the entire time frowning. Brian's drumming was subdued on it and that really soured me on it overall. The next two it was busier like his older work and that's what made me like those two more.

Yeah that's fair. Leviathan is their best Sludgey Allman Brothers Band record, though, and that's what I've always dug them for.

[doctorpoopenstein420]

Zoo was such a giant pile of shit. The least intellectual band trying to be deep and it's just boring garbage.
Love everything through Rohnert Park, tho.

[AngryGoldfish]

At least its not tasmania where everyone is related...

Everyone is everyone's second cousin here in Ireland as well. You can't pick a fight with anyone without threats from some guy the other side of the country who is their fucking cousin. It's annoying.

[AngryGoldfish]

Alright so here is my view on Mastodon as they are today, not that anyone cares.

I think that we WANT to keep liking what they put out, because their first albums ruled. Because they started off on a great and heavy foot, and were really unique, blah blah blah.

As they got bigger and bigger the more they started changing, and of course if you're offered a shit ton of money from a major record label you're going to taylor your sound to whatever you need it to be so that your music still gets put out and you still get that check.

I still hear bits and pieces of original Mastodon in that new track, specifically on Brent's solos. And honestly, I think if they went under a different name other than Mastodon right now, we wouldn't think it's that bad. Yeah, we probably wouldn't listen to it any other way, but it's the previous albums that we have in our head that make us disappointed with this new stuff. I'd rather hear new Mastodon on a local rock station than the other stuff that has been on. That's the way I look at it.

Did I enjoy the track? Here and there. I didn't think it was completely horrible, but it wasn't bad.

I normally would totally agree with you, but I genuinely believe that if their performance on Jimmy Kimmel was from an unknown band, the audience would not be lapping it up. Apart from the terrible sound quality in general, the vocals were just too out of whack to be respectable. Now, I know the dude is as happy as a pig in shit right now based on recent interviews, but he doesn't look like he's having a good time in that performance.

My point is, The Hunter was a success because of Mastodon's past history. Critics lapped it up because it was such a unique take on what their beginnings, almost like it's the quirkiness and departure that emanates more from a record rather than actual quality of production, performance and writing. It's as if change is more important than sheer quality, which is of course debatable, but to me craftsmanship comes first. From a purely analytical point of view, The Hunter was 2.8 stars out of a 5. From a fan of Mastodon, I'd give it 2 out of 5, but that is not what I'm focusing on. It was an incoherent and muddled mess, a wash of expensive vintage guitars and pretentious harmonies. The whole album reflected snobbery and screamed midlife crisis. I don't believe they're doing this for money or to please record labels; I believe they're doing it because they can and because they want to. They don't care that many hate it. They're still making loads of money and are happy with it themselves. That's cool, but I'm still going to sit here in corner of the Internet and bitch at their decline.

I actually enjoyed that Mastodon clip. Sure, there were parts of Brann's vocals that were a little shaky but how can you not have that when you're drumming at the same time? I wish he would stop singing and go back to the crazy drumming like on Remission, but that's just me. I feel that Mastodon's weakness is in their vocals. Remission sounded so raw and vicious and they don't do any of that anymore. I'm sure after all the time they've been together and the thousands of shows they've done I'd probably get tired of screaming all the time and would maybe wanna change it up some. I don't blame them for not wanting to sound the same on each album, however I will talk shit on their execution of said horrendous clean vocals. The Jimmy Kimmel clip wasn't nearly as bad as this:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktw9XCpDS2M[/youtube]

None of the studio tricks could save the vocals on that album either.

But that's my point: If you can't sing live while playing complicated drumming at the same time—which I totally understand—why are you doing it? Why are we still giving these people credit when they are simply incapable of doing what they are allegedly able to do? Brann is my favourite drummer of all time, and his vocal styling is actually really good, but there have been too many performances I've seen now where all of the singers simply cannot reach the notes they are trying to reach. Ironically, in that YouTube clip, someone was criticising modern day Pop divas because they can't play a real instrument and have to use pre-recorded clips to mime along to. The irony is, that performance is WHY Pop singers are miming, because they can't do it while dancing. Brann is just like "FU!!! IMMA SING NEWAY!!" And everyone laps it up because it's Brann Dailor.

[Harry_Manback]

I got a bit loaded the other night and rocked my ass off to Crack the Skye.

Neener neener.

[pelliott]

CtS is good as fuck, man

[Wes Mantooth]

Just got tickets to see OM in a few weeks, very excited.

[CaptainBoxman]

Mastodon can frankly suck my left bollock

The first four were inspirational to me, the last 2 were shit and when I met them they were all nasty to me and took the piss out of a physical deformity I have on my chest, except Brann. Fuck 'em, they let me down.