Listening to Mastodon: Blood Mountain, Part 1 

Mastodon in the 2000s was an unstoppable force. While Remission is still my favorite album from them, this era of the band was their pinnacle imo.

My sophomore year as a black 16 year old getting into all kinds of different music I found myself attracted to mastodon early and remember my father coming home one time to me cleaning the house blasting this album on the speakers. I always knew they were special I never thought they would get as big as they have become today but I’m always riding with mastodon !!!

Love this album! Sleeping Giant is the song that got me into Mastodon. I’m going to see them with Gojira in May and I’m super pumped for it!!

Bought it when it came out and is up there with the best albums ever recorded. Simply a classic.

This is one of maybe a half dozen albums I've ever acquired, that absolutely blew my MIND the first time through. Lying in bed, lights off, just going through a JOURNEY as every track just captivated me in a way that hasn't happened since. The last few albums still mostly escape me. From once more round the sun to the most recent. But from Remission through The Hunter, these guys were probably my favorite band in the genre. But this album is and will always be a top 10 album, any genre, for me. Special place in my heart!

Capillarian Crest may be my favorite Mastodon track. Brent Hinds' magnum opus in my opinion. The Capillarian Crest - Circle Of Cysquatch - Bladecatcher section is maybe the best of any of their albums. I was so excited to see your reaction to Bladecatcher haha. Great stuff Jim!

My favourite Mastodon album! And I would once again throw my hat in the ring for a listen-along to Mars Volta's Amputechture. I bought them both on the same day and with members of Mars Volta appearing on Blood Mountain, they've always felt like twin albums to me.

The best song to listen to all the different vocal styles is 'Oblivion' from their Crack the Skye record. Brann (the drummer) sings the verses, Troy (the bassist) sings the pre-chrous and Brent (the guitarist) sings the chorus, with his unusually high-pitched voice. Troy also handles the death growls and heavy vocals on early records, while Bill (the other guitarist) doesn't sing on any recording, but does some backup vocals and growls here and there for atmosphere more than anything. When they recorded this record, Brann still wasn't singing much at all with the band, and Troy handles most of the vocals, both singing and growling. 'Sleeping Giant' is started by Brent, then Troy takes over for that big 'SHAME ON' lyric and sings the harsh vocals on the follow track.

more M A S T O D O N!!!! hell yeah Jim... it's just what I've needed!

I’m an old metal head but only got into Mastodon in the past 9 months. I sh*t you not, I’ve had their full discography on rotation constantly since then. Fully obsessed at their progressive brilliance yet have evolved and changed their sound over the years including 3 different vocalists. Blood Mountain is my favorite, edging out Crack the Skye. From the blistering opening of Wolf is Loose to the bluesy, psychedelic Pendulous Skin, it’s a wild but thoroughly intoxicating journey of musical genius. Thankyou for dedicating a full reaction, it’s great to witness others who can appreciate how epic the album is.🤘🏼🇦🇺🤘🏼

Colony of Birchmen was my introduction to the band and they’re definitely my favorite metal band, along with Tool and Gojira

I really enjoy listen my fav album with you, thanks!!

FLLLYYYYY, REEPPPTTIIIIILEEE, LEATHER WIIIIIIINGS

Such a fantastic and incredibly unique band. All of their albums from Remission to the recent Hushed are absolute faves. Blood Mountain is an absolute banger. Mastodon live is INCREDIBLE. I can’t wait to see them again in late summer. Excellent choice Jim! 🤘🤘🤘

THE GREATEST BAND OF ALL TIME

Oh I just rolled out of bed, opened up youtube and saw that this was posted. Can't wait to see you reaction to this one Jim, Mastodon are my favorite band of all time and I absolutely LOVED your Hushed and Grim reaction.

Thank you for this! I love Mastodon and I have difficulty diving into full albums by myself. Listening with you is great fun. Absolutely amazing first half of the album!

So glad you got around to them and listened to the whole album… Crack the Skye is my favorite album of theirs

One of my favourite albums of all time, looking forward to seeing your reaction to side 2 😁 To help with who's doing what vocals, Troy (bass) handled lead vocals for the first 3 albums (including this one), he's the cleaner, deeper voice. Brent (lead guitar) is the screechy, southern drawl vocals, normally harsher. Starting on the album after this, Crack the Skye, Brann (drums) started providing a lot of clean vocals and he has a very clean rock n roll voice, give the track Oblivion a spin. Bill (rhythm guitar) does vocals here and there but mostly on the early albums and almost all growled. My personal fav Mastodon tracks are the more Brent influenced ones, they've got a country, mournful vibe to them. Check out the EP Cold Dark Place or the track The Beast from their newest album for an idea of that.

Maybe their best album, remember buying this and being blown away...been too long since I've heard it 😮

Great reaction to a fantastic album Jim! Voivod were a big influence on Mastadon, i reckon you'd love the latest Voivod stuff, they've always used creative dissonance in their composition and tricky time signatures. Cheers

Yess, this is one heck of an album. One of my personal favorites for sure :D

Their best album imo, huuuuge riffs.

Great stuff Jim, incredible album from an incredible band, mastodon doesn’t miss on any of their music and their 4 records from the 2000s are all some of the best records of the decade, all received pretty much universal acclaim from critics and audiences, probably the most acclaimed band of the decade. Anyway great stuff Jim, always great seeing mastodon get some attention, truly a special band. The singer who you mentioned sounded like Ozzy is Brent hinds the lead guitarist, the other one who you said was more Shouty and compared to lemmy is Troy sanders the bassist. They’re actually the only 2 members who sang on the first 3 albums, their 4th album crack the skye is when drummer Brann Dailor started singing as well, he’s got a higher clean voice, he and Troy were the 2 lead vocalists for the large majority of hushed and grim, Brent doesn’t like to sing that much so his role has decreased as lead singer and Brann’s has increased over the years, the other guitarist bill kelliher is the only member who doesn’t sing, he does support vocals live and he’s killer at them he just doesn’t like to sing and never has on record. Anyway I hope that helps you identify who is singing.

You Laughing at Bladecather made me sooo happy Jason haha

1st 3 Mastadon albums are heavy as fuck.

I guess Sinatra & Mastodon got a thing in common: being groundbreaking in all kinds of senses 🤣

Brent Hinds is kinda like Ozzy and Troy Sanders is kinda like Lemmy. Love the mighty Mastodon and greetings from Poland

Leviathan, this and Crack The Sky are from me The bests works, but i like all of this band

Best metal album of all time. I got into them when Leviathan came out because they were anointed “the next Metallica.” When this album came out it blew me away! Still can’t believe how good it is.

This was Mastodon at their peak.

fuck yeah this album is the bomb, took me a while to get into but i think its one of there best albums perfect blend of there sludge/heavier side and there proggier side that we would see in there next album crack the skye

the bass in bladecatcher ... wooh

Your channel has been my primary exposure to Mastodon. I do like what I've heard, though. I have a couple songs from your last playthrough on a playlist.

I have the same Copy in Green Vinyl 😮

At 20:41 it seems like the record skips, missed a bit of the song at that part. Not sure if it's an issue with the record or a bug during recording but worth checking.

For some reason, I never quite got _that_ much into this album, even though it's a good one nonetheless. These guys simply can't release a bad album even if they wanted to. _Colony of Birchmen_ is still probably my favorite off of it, but _Sleeping Giant_ has grown on me a lot ever since I watched their stripped down Georgia Aquarium performance.

1st Mastodon I've heard. Its OK, tho not for relaxing to :) Q: Better than Tool??

Prefer 'Crack the Skye' but this one ain't bad, lol

As a first listen they sound a little like Alice in Chains.

Awesome ! The first 3.5 albums are legendary. Was a huuuge Mastodon fanatic until they kinda changed styles...

You need subtitles, homie.

I liked many songs of the album Hushed and grim but this is quite different. I can’t listen to this screaming. In my world: if you can sing then sing or else keep quiet. This gives me a headache.

Nop Jim sorry..this is boring snd predictable