COLD DARK PLACE

I usually consider Cold Dark Place more of a Brent Hinds solo album with the helping hand of his band companions than a Mastodon album. It is clear since the first notes of "North Side Star" that these are songs written by Hinds, and there were even rumours at the time that said this EP was meant to be a solo album by him.

The most famous song from this work is "Toe to Toes", which I find to be the worst of the bunch. It has a very nice guitar solo but that's all for me. It reminds me a lot of what they did on The Hunter, and that's the only Mastodon album that I don't like. On the other side, all the other songs are absolute bangers. I really enjoy "Blue Walsh" specifically, which has a chorus that makes me feel overly nostalgical.

The music is what you would expect from a compedium of songs written by Hinds but with a twist. It has the country fingerpicking styled riffs, with a lot of open strings resonating, but there's no place for agressiveness. The vocals are more laid back, and the heavy riffing is nowhere to be found. I understand that these can cause rejection in the band's fanbase, but it is a nice one-step out of their career.

I think these album will be a delight to the more prog-rock oriented guys out there, and even people who enjoy their southern rock (there's a lot of it to be found in here). And I believe it was a good movement to take all these songs and make an EP, because maybe they are a little far from what the band does to be on an LP, but this way we can enjoy them anyway.