Hushed and Grim, the ninth album by the American group Mastodon, is a colossal effort, a double album that is at the same time rich, complex and accessible. This confirms the unifying power of the Atlanta quartet, more than ever the spearhead of contemporary metal.
However, build on the foundations of the previous Empire of sand presented a serious challenge. The album released in 2018 was not only nominated for Best Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards, but it also saw the band win their first Grammy for the song. Sultan’s Curse, judged best metal performance of the year. Meanwhile, the excellent Show Yourself climbed into the top 5 of Billboard’s overall rock charts, a feat in itself for a metal band.
Hushed and Grim is intended to be an 88-minute fresco that mixes the different influences of the group, often in the same piece. For one, the affordable Sickle and peace begins with the aerial but precise play of the guitars of Brent Hinds and Bill Kelliher, supported with finesse by the drums of Brann Dailor. The post-prog verses then fade to make way for a powerful gothic finale – melancholy, the album is a tribute to Nick John, former manager of the group, who succumbed to pancreatic cancer.
The Beast is another tour de force that first draws from the folk of the American Deep South, before evolving into a gradual transition and a metal explosion, each section being carried by the three singers of the group, Dailor, Hinds and the bassist Troy Sanders.
Elsewhere, for accessibility Teardrinker or the ballad Skeleton of Splendor, we also find the intense ones The Crux, Pushing the Tides and Savage Lands, which show that Mastodon remains a formidable metal machine, for those who might doubt it. In the end, we are talking about freed musicians who have imposed no straitjacket to limit their creative efforts, supported in this area by the Canadian director David Bottrill (Peter Gabriel, Muse, Tool and other King Crimson). The result is a flagship album in Mastodon’s discography, without a doubt.
Heavy metal
Hushed and Grim
Mastodon
Reprise Records / Warner Music