New Mastodon, thank “Bob”…I have been tuned out of the metal news feeds since Dave Brockie kicked. Man. You can talk about Metallica and Black Sabbath all day, but I never saw those bands live. They exist for me as an abstraction. GWAR was that band you could go back to again and again. They were real (sort of) and right there, spewing upon you, over the years. And the further out you go into Extreme and Serious musical territory, the more welcome it was to be reminded that all this is kinda dumb, (I mean life, man.) and that it is in fact possible to have fun with music. (While also be able to play instruments, competently.)

Mastodon is now that metal band. OR ARE THEY?!??!? Are they still Metal that is. Yes? I don’t care? Yes, I don’t care. What, this song has a chorus you could sing along to? That’s not Metal? Go to hell. Brent’s kinda pushin’ it in new direction with the clean vocals, doesn’t sound like Ozzy or anyone I can think of. Not sure I love it, but, good. I like stuff I’m not sure I love. How ’bout that.

Will this song get them on the radio? Probably not. It’s good. Not as good as the singles from the last album, I don’t think. Seems very much a standalone track, like a good b-side. But it’s a good holdover. And I bought it. I accept this a legit release format now. It’s less dumb than putting a live track on 7” and selling it for $10 (which is unfortunately not calling out a single offender these days. “Single offender”, jesus.) %