Overview
Today I am listening to Mastodon’s second studio album “Leviathan”, released August 31, 2004 from Relapse Records. This album features their singles “Iron Tusk”, “Blood and Thunder”, “I Am Ahab”, and “Seabeast”. This album feels like a good representation of when Mastodon really starts to develop their signature sound that I grew up listening to.
Song Analysis
The album starts off with “Blood and Thunder”, a song that painted a lot of the time I spent in high school. The riffs that open the song are so catchy and so are the words, it’s really hard to not sing along to it:
I think someone is trying to kill me
Infecting my body destroying my mind
No man of the flesh could ever stop me
The fight for this fish is a fight to the death”
The words of the chorus are definitely catchy as well and probably easier to remember for most people, “White whale / Holy grail”. Aside from that I also love the lyrics in the second verse as well:
What remorseless emperor commands me
I no longer govern my soul
I am completely immersed in darkness
As I turn my body away from the
Sun”
The lyrics are such an vivid picture to imagine, it’s really cool to think about. Half way through there is an instrumental passage that basically builds up to the third verse which does get a bit more intense, where the vocalist growls “Split your lungs with blood and thunder / When you see the white whale”, which is probably my most favorite part to verbalize. This song closes with the signature riffs of the song.
Starting with a really nice groove, “I Am Ahab” gets your head bobbing along. That groove continues throughout as the vocals join in. There is a neat instrumental passage half way through, keeping the groove. The song ends with some of the riffs featured through the track.
“Seabeast” starts with some gentle instrumentals, gentle guitars, drums, and bass. There is a bit of a drum buildup and then the vocals come in. The instrumental passage after the first verse follows some of the theme in the intro. Chugging guitars lead us out of the song with head banging riffs.
Beginning with drums, “Iron Tusk” leads us into riffs that follow a pleasing groove. Half way through the song, I love the chugging riffs around where the vocalist will utter “Culture vulture”. The song ends with with an instrumental passage that matches up with the intro.
I love the way “Megalodon” begins. It’s a very interesting instrumental passage where all instruments compliment each other so well and I feel the need to keep listening over and over to wrap my mind around it. This leads into strong guitar riffs where the drums pick up before leading us into the aggressive vocals. I love the intense riffs being played with the speedy drums around half way through the track. Leading us out of the track is a guitar heavy instrumental segment.
Beginning with such catchy riffs, the intro of “Naked Burn” builds up, the vocals join in over a decently chill drum beat. I love the words “Save yourself / Don’t wait on me”. In general, we can usually only be saved by ourselves. We are led out of the song with a pretty quick paced and chaotic instrumental passage.
“Hearts Alive” begins with the sounds of chill ocean waves, slowly fading into the pleasant guitars and drums playing to a very nice groove. This continues for a while and eventually transitions into intense distorted guitar playing with light drums. The drums pick up the pace, urging you to bob your head along. The vocals join in aggressively, of course, with the words “Taken down with hearts alive / Our hearts alive”. Half way through the track we are welcomed by some pleasant instrumental passages. I love how well they transition from one instrumental passage to another instrumental passage. They really understand how to shift the mood of the feeling received from what they play. Toward the end, the guitar really picks up leading us out of the song with a gnarly sounding guitar solo. We are led out of the song with some repeating instrumentals which is actually pretty relaxing.
“Joseph Merrick — Instrumental” is a beautiful instrumental track that begins with a chill and little eerie tone with an acoustic guitar layered with an electric guitar. A chill drums beat is added to this track along with the bass. The name “Joseph Merrick” refers to the same person that Mastodon’s song “Elephant Man” is referring to from their first studio album “Remission”. This song ends with the stripped down sounds of the electric guitar and acoustic layered together.
Final Thoughts
I really enjoyed hearing this album again after so long! I am looking forward to hearing Mastodon’s next album “Blood Mountain”. What do you think about it?
