Blood Mountain
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| Studio album by Mastodon | ||||
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Publication |
2006 |
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| Label (s) | Reprise Records | |||
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Matt Bayles & Mastodon |
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Studio (s) |
Studio Litho, Red Room Recording, Jupiter Studio |
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Blood Mountain is the third studio album by the American progressive metal / sludge band Mastodon . It was released on September 8, 2006 via Reprise Records . For the song " Colony of Birchmen ", the band was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Metal Performance category.
Emergence
In the summer of 2005 Mastodon were signed by Reprise Records , a subsidiary of the major label Warner Music . Reprise suggested the band several producers for the album. However, the band preferred to work with Matt Bayles , as on the previous album Leviathan . After participating in the Ozzfest tour, the band began songwriting for the new album. The musicians were inspired by films such as El Topo or Santa Sangre .
The recordings took place in the Studios Studio Litho, Red Room Recording and Jupiter Studio over a period of two months. Guest vocalists include Scott Kelly from Neurosis (on the song "Crystal Skull"), Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age (on the song "Colony of Birchmen") and Cedric Bixler-Zavala from The Mars Volta (on the song "Siberian Divide"). Mixed was Blood Mountain Rich Costey, the mastering took Vlado Meller. Music videos were shot for the songs "The Wolf is Loose", "Colony of Birchmen", "Sleeping Giant" and "Capillarian Crest" . The album cover was created by Paul A. Romano.
background
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As with the two previous albums and the following album, Crack the Skye , the main theme of Blood Mountain comes from the four-element theory . The debut album Remission dealt with fire , Leviathan with water , Blood Mountain with earth and Crack the Skye with the Aither , which the Greek philosopher Aristotle called the quintessence of the four elements. According to drummer Brann Dailor , Blood Mountain is a concept album .
“It's about climbing a mountain and all the different things that can happen to you when you're stranded on a mountain or in a forest and lost. You starve to death, hallucinate, and meet strange creatures. You are being hunted. "
The protagonist of the story climbs "Blood Mountain" to find a crystal skull . During the song "Circle of Cysquatch" the character meets a Cysquatch, a one-eyed Bigfoot who can see into the future. The cysquatch warns the protagonist of the dangers that await him. Eventually the protagonist reaches the crystal skull on the top of the mountain, which is a kind of doorstep into another universe.
The song "Colony of Birchmen" pays homage to the song "The Colony of Slippermen" by the British band Genesis . The song “Pendulous Skin” contains a “fan letter” as a hidden track , which was spoken by Josh Homme.
reception
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Petra Schurer from Metal Hammer highlighted the songs that "thrive on their richness of detail and exciting passages in which the musicians sometimes fight each other, sometimes complement each other wonderfully". She gave the album six out of seven points. Boris Kaiser from Rock Hard magazine described Blood Mountain as one of the greatest musical experiences in recent times and awarded it nine out of ten points.
Blood Mountain reached number 32 in the US album charts . Mastodon made it into the album charts in these countries for the first time at number 96 in the German album charts and number 46 in the British. Mastodon were nominated for the Grammy Award in the Best Metal Performance category for the song "Colony of Birchmen" . However, the award went to the band Slayer for the song "Eyes of the Insane".
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Chris Harris: Mastodon LP Tackles Auto-Cannibalism, One-Eyed Sasquatch. MTV , accessed November 22, 2013 .
- ↑ Christoph Höhl: A long way to the sun . In: SLAM , No. 74, page 22
- ↑ Wolf-Rüdiger Mühlmann: Happy men . In: Rock Hard , October 2006, p. 28
- ^ Gail Worley: Adventures On Blood Mountain. Ink19, accessed November 22, 2013 .
- ↑ Chart sources: DE / US Mastodon in the Official UK Charts (English)
- ↑ Petra Schurer: Mastodon - Blood Mountain. Metal Hammer . Retrieved November 22, 2013 .
- ↑ Boris Kaiser: Mastodon - Blood Mountain. Rock Hard, accessed October 21, 2018 .
- ↑ SLAYER Wins GRAMMY In 'Best Metal Performance' Category. Blabbermouth.net , accessed April 3, 2018 .
Web links
- Blood Mountain at Allmusic (English)