Leviathan (album)
| Leviathan | ||||
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| Studio album by Mastodon | ||||
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Publication |
2004 |
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| Label (s) | Relapse Records | |||
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Title (number) |
10 |
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running time |
46 min 43 s |
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Matt Bayles & Mastodon |
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Studio (s) |
Robert Lang Studios, Studio Litho, |
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Leviathan is the second studio album by the American progressive metal / sludge band Mastodon . It was released on September 13, 2004 by Relapse Records .
Emergence
Over a period of one and a half months, the band wrote the material for the album Leviathan in the fall of 2003 . The musicians were under time pressure because a tour with Clutch was coming up. Since the musicians all still had regular jobs, the musicians could only rehearse the material at night. When the band had just rehearsed the new songs, the tour began and work on the new album had to be interrupted for two months.
The recordings for the album took place in the recording studios Robert Lang Studios, Studio Litho and EK Studios in Seattle . The album was recorded under the direction of Matt Bayles , who also did the mixing . The recordings lasted about a month. Mastered was Leviathan by Alan Douches. All lyrics and music were written by the band Mastodon. Guest musicians were Neil Fallon from Clutch and Scott Kelly from Neurosis . Music videos were shot for the songs Iron Tusk , Blood and Thunder and Seabeast . The record cover was designed by Paul A. Romano.
background
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As with the previous album Remission and the two subsequent albums Blood Mountain and Crack the Skye , Leviathan's main theme 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 was described by the Greek philosopher Aristotle as the quintessence of the four elements.
Leviathan is a concept album loosely referring to Herman Melville's novella Moby-Dick . According to drummer Brann Dailor, there are numerous connections between the history of the book and the history of the band:
“This crazy captain Ahab who sacrifices everything in his life for this whale and ends up going down with this animal and his ship. It's hard to imagine, but look at it from the side: What are MASTODON doing? We leave our families behind to go on tour for weeks and we do it out of love for music that one shouldn't love for financial reasons: Playing in a heavy metal band is probably not the wisest step in a career. You see, the book is full of metaphors and I can identify with the message very well. "
Hearts Alive, which was over 13 minutes long, was originally two songs. The musicians felt that both were not complete and just put the songs together. The song Joseph Merrick refers to the British Joseph Merrick (1862–1890), who was also known as the elephant man due to the deformation of his body . The songs The Elephant Man and Pendulous Skin from the albums Remission and Blood Mountain also refer to Merrick.
reception
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Chart positions Explanation of the data |
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Roland Wiesmüller from the online magazine Metal1.info described Leviathan as a "powerful, rousing album full of dynamism" that was recorded by "great musicians" and awarded it nine out of ten points. Isaiha Violante of the online magazine Pitchfork Media wrote in his review that Mastodon "have finally found their niche as the metal band of the thinking man", and gave 8.5 out of ten points. For Jackie Smit from the online magazine Chronicles of Chaos , Leviathan confirms that Mastodon are "one of the most interesting talents in heavy metal". Ingo Neumeyer from Visions magazine was critical . Although he praised Leviathan "on the idea side, it is definitely one of the most sensational metal records of the year", but criticized the "plain and simple weak and flat production".
As the first album in the band's history, Leviathan reached a chart position. The album was number 139 on the US album charts and sold 8,088 times in the first week after its release. The song Island was used in the computer animation film The Monster Uni , but did not appear in the accompanying soundtrack .
The British music magazine Kerrang! and Terrorizer voted Leviathan to their albums of the year. In the British Metal Hammer , the album took second place. The German magazine Rock Hard led Leviathan in ninth place of the list of 15 most important progressive metal albums. The German magazine Visions had the album in their list of the 66 + 6 best metal albums of the third millennium in spring 2017.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Captain Chaos: MASTODON: Identifications with good old Ahab. Vampster , accessed November 22, 2013 .
- ↑ Rick Florino: Interview: Brann Dailor of Mastodon Looks Back on “Leviathan”. Artist direct, accessed on March 9, 2015 (English).
- ↑ Chart sources: US
- ↑ Roland Wiesmüller: Mastodon - Leviathan. Metal1.info, accessed June 28, 2016 .
- ↑ Isaiha Volante: Mastodon - Leviathan. Pitchfork Media , accessed November 22, 2013 .
- ↑ Jackie Smit: Mastodon - Leviathan. Chronicles of Chaos, accessed November 22, 2013 .
- ^ Ingo Neumeyer: Mastodon - Leviathan. Visions , accessed November 22, 2013 .
- ↑ SOUNDSCAN REPORT: PAPA ROACH, LAMB OF GOD, MASTODON, DANZIG. Blabbermouth.net , accessed April 3, 2018 .
- ↑ Amy Sciarretto: Mastodon Track Featured in New 'Monsters University' Film. Noisecreep, accessed April 6, 2014 .
- ↑ Kerrang! Albums Of The Year 2004. Rocklistmusic.co.uk, accessed November 21, 2013 .
- ↑ Terrorizer Albums Of The Year 2004. Rocklistmusic.co.uk, accessed November 21, 2013 .
- ^ Metal Hammer Albums Of The Year 2004. Rocklistmusic.co.uk, accessed November 21, 2013 .
- ↑ Boris Kaiser / Michael Rensen: The 15 most important progressive metal albums . In: Rock Hard, June 2010, p. 95.
- ↑ oA: The 66 + 6 best metal albums of the millennium . In: Visions, issue 289, pages 52–66