Mastodon – Brixton, O2 Academy – 28/11/2014 | Live Review

Source: Graham Berry

Atlanta’s Mastodon are one of the biggest, most popular metal bands in the world. After almost twenty years of hard graft, they’ve risen to the top of the pile and absolutely prove that they’ve earned that right in Brixton. With support from rising hometown boys Krokodil and cult favourites Big Business, it’s a night of riff worship all round.

Sludge supergroup Krokodil are first up, and the first few tracks suffer at the hands of a rough, bass heavy sound mix that robs them of Simon Wright’s vocal powers for the first few bars. Sadly the guitars of Laurent Barnard, Daniel P. Carter and Alessandro Venturella never fully recover from this initial setback, which leaves a lot of potential potency absent from the rest of their set. Though initially seeming a little lost in the space of the Academy’s stage, they grow more comfortable and commanding as they plow on. Wright is an absolute vocal powerhouse, rasping and growling his way through the likes of ‘Shatter’ and ‘Sun Riders’ (which is much improved without Simon Neil’s vocals). Their deep, groove heavy riffs and furious drumming are more impressive live than on disk, and are perhaps a marker for bigger things to come.

Source: Graham Berry

Big Business take to the stage as a power duo, with guitarist Scott Martin absent tonight. It barely affects their spirited performance, the hugely chunky bass of Jared Warren and absolutely blistering drumming of Coady Willis make flavour-of-the-month bass/drumm duo Royal Blood look like a big piece of regurgitated shit. They are pure rhythm, and despite having four fewer members, they dominate the space with more ease than Krokodil. Warren’s vocals are throaty, booming and attention grabbing, and they cane it through ‘Chump Chance’ and ‘No Vowels’ with soul and fury. Willis’s drum performance is massive. Where the ‘dons Brann Dailor is like a biological drum machine, Willis is barely containable behind the kit, threatening to shoot 50 feet straight up at any moment. Warren incites the crowd to boo and heckle them off stage, but not before throwing down a masterfully elongated, apocalyptic ‘Lonely Lyle’. They are the business.

Source: Graham Berry

Mastodon come out to a heroes welcome, the packed Academy showing their appreciation before a note has been played. The quartet tear into a setlist understandably heavily leaning on latest album Once More ‘Round The Sun, and tunes like opener ‘Tread Lightly’ and ‘The Motherload’ are huge, going down an absolute storm. Although the band’s vocals are never one hundred percent live, tonight sees them closer to replicating their on-record tones than they ever have been. Troy Sander’s smoky low tones are great, and it’s nice to see guitarist Bill Kelliher take to the mic to do some cleans as well as his guttural roars. Dailor does some admirable work from behind his kit but sounds the most strained, understandable given the monumental rolling and clattering drum work he puts out flawlessly throughout every single song.

To those who are more skeptical of the ‘dons recent leanings towards more accessible material, their doubts are silenced by the inclusion of some fucking ripping earlier works. ‘Ol’e Nessie’ is a contender for track of the night, shifting between melancholy and savagery on a dime. ‘Bladecatcher’ and ‘Aqua Dementia’ are explosions of riff ecstasy, and ‘Crystal Skull’ threatens to punch clean through the venue’s roof. For a band that not too long ago only spoke to their audience at the close of their sets, who let their music do the talking, all four members are surprisingly vocal. They are humble and thankful, absolutely at ease, whipping their fans into a frenzy with high fives and point-outs. Every voice joins in to sing the refrain of ‘Aunt Lisa’ , and the band lap it up. It is a triumphant, joyous meeting of musicians and fans, and despite it being the 28th time they’ve played here, the communal experience is one of pure enjoyment. Roll on the next 28.