LEVIATHAN

A good but by no means excellent metal album with only the very faintest whiff of progressiveness about it, 'Leviathan' is a tale of man against beast. There are no sublime moments here (nothing like 'Sleeping Giant' from 'Blood Mountain), just honest, competent metalcore with outstanding drumming. But a great drummer doesn't make a great album. The singing, for all that it consists mostly of growls, is surprisingly recessive. There's very little of it, and what there is tends to pass the listener by.

Don't be fooled by the presence of a 13 minute song here. It's a good track, but is an extended metal piece. The other tracks are all short, riff-heavy and rhythmical, but the song writing here is tepid at best. MASTODON need to find that creative spark to lft them into prominence - otherwise they'll continue to open for bands like DRAGONFORCE. On 'Blood Mountain', the album folowing this, they make tentative steps, including making far better use of the vocals, but there's no call to rush out and buy this. As for comparing this to OPETH, well, this is nice and all that, but it's simply not in the same league.