via//chicago

"I tore a path screaming through wind and blood, I will it all."

Today's tune comes from the band that single-handedly got me back into metal back in 2004 after falling away from the scene for quite some time. For a while, probably because I just wasn't digging deep enough, it seemed all I could find were half-assed metal/hardcore bands that didn't do much for me. There was no new band to rally around and most of the legends had either faded to shadows of their former selves or burned out completely. Then came Leviathan, Mastodon's second full-length album. The 1-2 punch of "Blood and Thunder" and "Captain Ahab" blew me away and set up what to become one of those albums that I kept coming back to time and time again. These guys knew how to rock out with massive, crushing noise but they had the technical mastery of their instruments needed to back it up. Since discovering this classic, I've finally returned to the murky waters of metal and have managed to find plenty of stuff to keep me satisfied - The Sword, Witch, Opeth, Trivium, Boris, Avenged Sevenfold, and Sunn O))) to name just a few. The track I'm sharing you today comes from Mastodon's excellent album from 2006, Blood Mountain, an album that will be placing very, very highly in my end of year best albums list. Even if you think metal might not be your thing, give this a shot anyway, you just may be surprised. (Click here to buy the album from Amazon)

Mastodon - "Crystal Skull"