Blood Mountain is the third full-length studio album by metal band Mastodon. The recording of the album finished in April 2006 and it was released on 11 September in the UK and 12 September 2006 in North America. The album in full could be streamed at the band's MySpace page a few days prior to the release.

Like Mastodon's previous studio work Leviathan, Blood Mountain is a concept album. According to bass guitarist Troy Sanders, "It's about climbing up a mountain and the different things that can happen to you when you're stranded on a mountain, in the woods, and you're lost. You're starving, hallucinating, running into strange creatures. You're being hunted. It's about that whole struggle."

The album includes guest appearances by Scott Kelly of Neurosis on "Crystal Skull", Joshua Homme of Queens of the Stone Age on "Colony of Birchmen", as well as keyboard player Isaiah "Ikey" Owens and singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala of The Mars Volta on "Pendulous Skin" and "Siberian Divide", respectively.

Music videos for "The Wolf Is Loose", "Colony of Birchmen", "Sleeping Giant" and "Capillarian Crest" have been made. Although the video for "Capillarian Crest" is made up of live footage, the studio version of the song is played.

Guitarist Bill Kelliher considers this album to represent the earth element. At the time, bassist Troy Sanders called it "sonically the best album we have done."

The band's emphasis on clean, melodic vocals instead of the harsher vocals that the band used on their early work continues to grow on this album.

Blood Mountain entered the Billboard 200 best selling album charts at #32, with 24,000 sold copies, marking it the second highest debut in the band's career after Crack the Skye. By December 2006, the album had sold more than 65,000 copies in the U.S. alone according to the band's website and, by March 2009, the album had sold 150,000 copies in the U.S. according to Nielsen Soundscan .

Critical reaction

Blood Mountain was largely well received by critics. Total Guitar magazine voted it its Number One album of 2006, and magazines such as Metal Hammer and Kerrang! thought it is every bit as good as the band's previous album Leviathan, if not better. The album has also charted in many websites and magazines 2006 countdowns. The band's first single from the album, "Capillarian Crest", was ranked #27 in Rolling Stone magazine Top 100 songs of 2006. Blood Mountain was ranked 9th in Rolling Stone Top 50 Albums of 2006/2, and 42nd in Pitchfork Medias Top 50 Albums of 2006.

Blood Mountain was voted the best album of 2006 in the UK Metal Hammer magazine end-of year polls, as well as top in Total Guitar magazine's top 50 albums of 2006. It was also rated the 17th greatest metal album of all time by a countdown recently carried out by gaming website IGN. However, the album is not without its detractors; The Guardian felt that it was unorganized and seemed as if the tracks were far longer than they actually were, resulting in a 1/5 rating.

Story notes

* The main character is in search of the Crystal Skull which he hopes to place at the top of Blood Mountain. In the making of DVD, the Crystal Skull is supposed to remove "the reptile brain" causing its owner the ability to achieve the next step of human evolution.The Making Of Blood Mountain DVD Chapter 8

* In an interview with bass guitarist Troy Sanders it was revealed that a Cysquatch is "a one-eyed Sasquatch that can see into the future." The Cysquatch warns the main character of the following dangers during the journey for the Crystal Skull.Track 5: Circle Of Cysquatch

Track details

The album's last song, "Pendulous Skin", contains a secret "fan letter" from Josh Homme, who provided guest vocals on the album. At 21:25, he says: "Dear Mastodon: My name is Joshua. I'm a big fan from Southern Cal. Really diggin' on your new scene. That's why I hope you don't mind when I got your new demos for your new CD, I had to sing parts on them and send them to you as a tribute. I hope you're not mad about me also uploading them onto the Internet. But hell, it seems like you guys are so cool that you might dig something just like that. Sincerely, your fan, Joshua M. Homme. P.S., Keep it real...REAL (studio effects are used)....*laughter*....REAL." When asked about the message in a Pitchfork Media interview, Homme said, "I was just fucking with them. Then they asked if they could put that on the end of their record, and I was like, 'Yeah.' I did the vocal and sent it back to them, and that message was before the song started." The song itself ends at 5:01, followed by over 15 minutes of silence, then Homme's message.

The title "Colony of Birchmen" is a homage to the song "The Colony of Slippermen" by progressive rock group Genesis, whom the band's drummer, Brann Dailor, has been known to appreciate.Worley, Gail Ink19.com (February 2008). Retrieved April 6, 2008.

The track "Sleeping Giant" is available as downloadable content for Guitar Hero III, and "Colony of Birchmen" is an on-disc track in Rock Band 2.

Credits

Band members

* Troy Sanders – bass guitar, vocals

* Brent Hinds – guitar, vocals

* Bill Kelliher – guitar, backing vocals

* Brann Dailor – drums, backing vocals

Guest musicians

* Scott Kelly (Neurosis) – guest vocals on "Crystal Skull"

* Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age) – guest vocals and guitar on "Colony of Birchmen"

* Cedric Bixler-Zavala (The Mars Volta) – guest vocals on "Siberian Divide"

* Isaiah "Ikey" Owens (The Mars Volta) – keyboards on "Pendulous Skin"

* Jimmy Geofferys - tuba and euphonium on "Sleeping Giant"

Production

* Matt Bayles - producer, engineer

* Rich Costey - mixing

* Vlado Meller - mastering

* Eric Searle and Michael Green – pre-production

Billboard charts

Album

Singles

References

Category:Mastodon albums

Category:2006 albums

Category:Concept albums

Category:Albums produced by Matt Bayles

da:Blood Mountain

de:Blood Mountain

es:Blood Mountain

it:Blood Mountain

pl:Blood Mountain

pt:Blood Mountain

ru:Blood Mountain

Artist/Band Information

Mastodon is an American heavy metal band from Atlanta, Georgia, formed in 1999. The band comprises bassist/vocalist Troy Sanders, guitarist/vocalist Brent Hinds, guitarist/vocalist Bill Kelliher and drummer/vocalist Brann Dailor. They have released four full-length albums to date, expanding their musical borders from early raw sludge and post-hardcore riffs to later psychedelic multi-layered songs, yet maintaining a retro, progressive style ranging from unusual time signatures to odd instrumentation. One of the key factors to their success is continuous touring all over the world, creating growing fan bases with each new release.

Biography

Formation and early years (1999–2003)

Mastodon was formed in late 1999 when drummer Brann Dailor and guitarist Bill Kelliher moved to Atlanta from Rochester, New York and met bassist/singer Troy Sanders and guitarist/singer Brent Hinds at a High on Fire show. They discovered they had a mutual appreciation of sludge metal bands Melvins and Neurosis and '70s hard-rockers Thin Lizzy, and shortly thereafter formed Mastodon. In an interview in 2009, Kelliher revealed that the first time Hinds attended a practice with the band, he "showed up so wasted he couldn't play".

They recorded a demo in 2000, which featured the band's first lead singer, Eric Saner on vocals. Saner left the band for personal reasons after just a couple of months. After recording a four song demo and a 7-inch picture disc through Reptilian Records, Mastodon landed a record deal with Relapse Records in 2001. They released an EP, Lifesblood in 2001 and their first full-length album, Remission, was released in 2002, with the singles "March of the Fire Ants" and "Crusher/Destroyer" (which was also featured on Tony Hawk's Underground). On each of Mastodon's first three full-length albums the last track relates to the Elephant Man.

Leviathan (2004–2005)

Mastodon2004.jpgthumbrightBrent Hinds and Troy Sanders 2004

Their album Leviathan was released in 2004 to critical acclaim; the band won Album of the Year awards from Kerrang! and Terrorizer and was named second best by Metal Hammer. Leviathan was also rated 3rd best album in the last 20 years by Metal Hammer. Leviathan is a concept album loosely based on Herman Melville's novel Moby Dick. After the release of Leviathan, the band went on to play in The Unholy Alliance tour in 2004 in Europe with Slayer and Slipknot. The track "Blood and Thunder" features Neil Fallon, of the band Clutch, on lead vocals during the last verse of the song. Mastodon had previously toured with Clutch in 2002 and 2003.

Leviathan was followed by two releases: The Call of the Mastodon, a remastering and remixing of the band's first nine songs, and The Workhorse Chronicles, a DVD of interviews and concert footage, including material from the band's early days as a five-piece. These two releases were Mastodon's last for Relapse records, they would go on to sign with Warner Bros.. Before the release of their next album, Mastodon recorded a cover version of the Metallica instrumental "Orion". This was for a Kerrang! magazine special CD called Master of Puppets: Remastered honoring the 20-year anniversary of the release of the album Master of Puppets by Metallica.

NPR recently included Leviathan lead track "Blood and Thunder" in its list of the 50 most important recordings of the decade.

Also, Leviathan lead track Blood and Thunder was added into "Guitar Hero: Metallica" video game, as a playable track on all instruments.

Blood Mountain (2006–2008)

Their third studio album was eventually released on September 12, 2006 followed by the band going on tour to support the album, touring with Tool in Europe and Slayer in Australia and New Zealand. The Mars Volta frontman Cedric Bixler-Zavala lent his vocals to the track "Siberian Divide." Similarly, Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme contributed vocals for the song "Colony of Birchmen," and in a hidden track on the album contains a spoken-word piece from him, claiming to be a big fan and that he uploaded their new album on the internet. Before the release of Blood Mountain, Mastodon was a part of the North American Unholy Alliance tour. An online promotional Blood Mountain computer game was even made available.

The band performed the song "Colony of Birchmen" on NBC's Late Night with Conan O'Brien on November 1, their first appearance on network television, to a viewing audience of around 2.4 million people.

The band's first single off Blood Mountain, "Capillarian Crest" was ranked number 27 in Rolling Stone Magazine's Top 100 Songs of 2006. The album itself was ranked 9th in the magazine's best albums of the year chart. The UK's Metal Hammer voted it the best album of 2006 in its end of year critic's poll. The album was voted in at #5 by Kerrang! in their end of year list. Also number 6 on PopMatters' Best Albums of 2006 and number 1 on The Best Metal Albums of 2006. About.com rated it the top metal album of 2006. Blood Mountain was also named best album of 2006 in the 10th anniversary birthday edition (issue 119) of Bizarre. It also came in at #2 on Revolver magazine's list of the top albums of 2006. The band was named Artist Of The Month for March 2007 at Gametap.com.

The band has been touring and playing numerous shows during this time. Mastodon joined Against Me!, and Cursive for a North American tour, with Planes Mistaken for Stars opening for one leg and These Arms Are Snakes the other. A performance in Milwaukee had to be canceled due to illness on the part of Brent Hinds. Mastodon would play the Hove Festival in Norway as well as on the Main Stage of the Download Festival and then the Pitchfork Music Festival. During this time the band opened for Metallica on the Sick of the Studio tour. The band also played at the 2007 Dubai Desert Rock, the 2008 Bonnaroo Music festivals, and the inaugural Mayhem Festival. Mastodon then toured with Slayer, Trivium, Lamb of God and several other metal bands in 2008 for the The Unholy Alliance tour 2008.

The band performed "Colony of Birchmen" at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards live with Josh Homme. After the televised performance, member Brent Hinds was reported to have sustained a severe head injury. Blabbermouth.net initially reported that it was the result of a brutal assault but the police report later suggested that an inebriated Hinds had started a fight with System of a Down bassist Shavo Odadjian and vocalist William Hudson, also known as Reverend William Burke of Achozen (not, as popularly thought, guitarist Bill Hudson of power metal band Cellador).

Crack the Skye (2009–present)

After extensive touring to support Blood Mountain and plenty of material composed, Mastodon entered Southern Tracks Studios to record their fourth album. Crack the Skye was released on March 24, 2009 as a normal version and a deluxe version (which includes all songs in instrumental versions as well as their normal versions) and entered the Billboard 200 at number 11 a week later. The album is produced by Brendan O'Brien and Scott Kelly of Neurosis returns as a guest musician on the title-track.

In a MusicRadar interview, guitarist Bill Kelliher confirmed the album is about an "out of body experience," and looks at the concepts of astral travel, wormholes, Stephen Hawking's theories and the spiritual realm.

The album follows a quadriplegic who learns astral projection. On his journey he flies too close to the sun, burning his umbilical cord which connects him to his body, and flies into oblivion. At the same time in Czarist Russia, Rasputin and his cult were channeling spirits and brought the quadriplegic to their time. He explains his situation and foretells the assassination of Rasputin. Inevitably Rasputin is assassinated and Rasputin guides him back to his body. The band had debuted three new tracks at the Bonnaroo Music Festival, but did not play any more live shows before the album's release, due to fears of internet distribution and wanting to play the songs to the right audience. Drummer Brann Dailor sings lead vocals for the verses of the song "Oblivion." Mastodon was a headliner at the Scion Rock Fest on February 28, 2009, performing a set containing three tracks from Crack the Skye, the first time these songs were played since being finalized and recorded.

On May 15 2009, Mastodon performed a shortened version of "Oblivion" on The Late Show With David Letterman.

In order to support their new album, Mastodon toured with Metallica on the latter part of the 2009 European leg of their World Magnetic Tour.http Metallica.com. In Fall of 2009, They embarked with Dethklok on the "Adult Swim Presents" tour along with Converge and High on Fire. On October 17, 2009, they recorded a DVD documenting the tour at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago. Mastodon have been announced to play the alternative music festival "Big Day Out" next January and February. Mastodon will tour across Australia and New Zealand playing alongside notable bands such as; Muse, Lily Allen, Rise Against, Karnivool, Peaches, Grinspoon, The Mars Volta, Eskimo Joe, Powderfinger and several other Australian and international bands.

On October 29, 2009 they performed "Divinations" on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

On November 4 Mastodon released their second EP, simply called Oblivion EP.http

In popular culture

One of the tracks from Leviathan, "Blood and Thunder," was featured in the soundtracks for the video games Need for Speed: Most Wanted, Project Gotham Racing 3, Guitar Hero: Metallica, and Saints Row. It was also a license song in the Japanese arcade music games Drummania V2 and Guitarfreaks V2. Specific HTML frames at and The song "Colony of Birchmen" was featured in Saints Row 2 and Rock Band 2

With the explosion of rhythm-based home video games the band has gained additional mainstream exposure. "Sleeping Giant" was made available as a downloadable song for Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock and appeared in Guitar Hero 2, and "Colony of Birchmen" was included on Harmonix's Rock Band 2. "Blood and Thunder" is also a part of Guitar Hero: Metallica. Mastodon also contributed a cover version of Harry Nilsson's "One" for the video game Army of Two's advertisement campaign. "Divinations" is featured in Madden NFL 10. The band members are fans of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, and in 2007, Mastodon performed the opening song of Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters, "Cut You Up with a Linoleum Knife". The instrumental versions of the songs "Crack the Skye" and "Oblivion" are also included in the 2009 video game Brütal Legend.

In 2009, Mastodon was personally contacted by director Jimmy Hayward to compose the score for the 2010 Jonah Hex film, a DC comic adaption. The band worked with composer Marco Beltrami on the soundtrack. The Jonah Hex: Revenge Gets Ugly EP was released on June 29, 2010 through Reprise Records.

Discography

*Remission (2002)

*Leviathan (2004)

*Blood Mountain (2006)

*Crack the Skye (2009)

Members

;Current members

* Troy Sanders – bass, vocals (1999–present)

* Brent Hinds – guitar, vocals (1999–present)

* Bill Kelliher – guitar, backing vocals (1999–present)

* Brann Dailor – drums, backing vocals (1999–present)

;Former members

* Eric Saner – vocals (1999–2000)

File:Mastodon Troy Sanders 2006.jpg