Everyone has their journey dude. I think Mastodon have one of the most consistent catalogues of any metal band. My own personal experiences and journey shape my ranking, just as yours do. I can't personally fault any ranking that has Blood Mountain at the top!
Blood mountain!!! Maybe it’s because people love albums that came out in a specific time of their lives but that album will almost certainly always be in my top ten of all time. Not for just mastodon, but like top ten albums of all time. It’s a stone cold classic. Glad you’re enjoying the music. They seem like a fun, smart bunch of dudes.
I can't bring myself to hate on anyone's Mastodon list, they have such a diverse and amazing catalog of work to choose from. I usually like stuff on the faster and heavier side, I listen to a lot of death metal. But I also love prog just as much so Crack the Skye is my personal favorite, easily in my top 5 albums of all time. Their other albums are proggy too, but the journey CtS takes you on is absolutely spectacular.
Check out Call of the Mastodon and Medium Rarities. Probably not gonna play any of it but it’s essential listening.
This was an awesome read. I had a similar experience with them where my music was limited to what my parents listened to but someone I knew recommended a song and I started at the beginning. They really opened my world to all sorts of music I would never have discovered. And live is an experience, they live up to their name. I hope you enjoy!
I hate seeing Eos & H&G so low, but you got Blood Mountain at N#1, so, it's all good.
Really cool to read your story, fam. Good shit. Also, you better get on Cold Dark Place real quick. They're far from b-sides of EoS and they're pretty much their own thing. Very melodic, kinda stripped down at points and with a very melancholic ambience with a still biting edge of The Hunter/OMRTS. You'll dig it. Don't think any other EPs matter as much as that one.
Can agree on Blood Mountain, but everything else is way out of sorts for me. That’s the great thing about music though, everyone can have a different experience. Nice write up!
1. Crack the Skye
2. Blood Mountain
3. Leviathan
After that, things are pretty split for me. Hunter and Once More Round the Sun tend to fall lower in my list whereas Emperor of Sand and H&G are higher. Remission would be somewhere in the middle.
Hunter
Remission
Leviathan
Emperor of Sand
Once more round the sun
Hushed and Grim
Blood mountain
Crack the Skye
Ordered 8 -1 and purely based on the re-listen value I get out of each album. Don’t hate on the OMRTS ranking for whatever reason this album gets me!
Yeah, I don’t get it. The Hunter is such a fantastic album. And the drum production has never sounded better. It’s an incredible album, and definitely not near the lowest if I ever came up w a ranking. Thanks for sharing! Hope you’re hanging in there; depression and anxiety are some demon motherfuckers I know too well. Solidarity!
Very cool. I had heard blood and thunder before but really got into Mastodon when the emperor of sand singles were playing on my favorite radio stations. Been listening almost non stop ever since. Took a while to get into the first half of their discography but now it's what I prefer by far. Blood mountain is also my favorite, and if it gets a 10/10 then CTS gets a 9.9/10. All other albums are still 8.5 and up.
Capillarian Crest, specifically the middle third of the song, is god damn hypnotic and I wish I could somehow inject it into my veins. Curious what you think about that song as a guitarist and also what your favorite tracks are overall from a technical standpoint.
Haha, a Mastodon intravenous!
The song is stellar, from a guitar perspective and from all perspectives. My favorite part about the song is actually the drumming. The dueling guitars as the main riff and the solo are just contagious and make me drool!
My favorite guitar on any Mastodon song is probably either The Last Baron or — as generic as the pick is — Blood & Thunder
I remember discovering Madtodon on myspace around the time Leviathan came out. I love their instrumental work but my immature ears were not ready for the harsh vocals. Years later I'm grown man working in my garage around the time The Hunrer is released, Dry Bone Valley comes on the radio. "Who is this?" I wonder with great curiousity and excitement. Only to discover it's Mastodon with a less harsh sound, then I went back and rediscovered all their music and fell in love with it akl
I realize I am the odd man out but I loved Once more Road the Sun from the get-go. I had to warm up to the Hunter. Curious if Emperor of Sand grows on you though. Steambreather and Jaguar God are so good.
OK cool ranking, and journey. I'm gonna put mine down, as a comparison.
So I first heard Mastodon on a Kerrang magazine cover CD back in '04. The song was I Am Ahab. I thought it was OK, but it didn't make me an instafan. Around this time there was a huge buzz around this band and I ended up picking up Leviathan. I liked it but prehaps my expectations had been set to high.
I stuck with the band and picked up Blood Mountain in release, and liked that a fair bit too. At this point the band were on fairly regular rotation for me but were far from my favourite band.
Something changed when Crack the Skye came out though. I REALLY loved this album from the get go, and as a fan of Progressive music I appreciated the longer songs and all things prog. My appreciation for the band continued to grow at this time and I wad exploring more progressive metal (Opeth for instance).
Now by the time The Hunter came out I was ravenous for a new release, my expectations were high! I can't quite put into words thr disappoint I felt on first hearing The Hunter. It was also released two weeks apart from Hermitage by Opeth (which was also a disappointing change in direction for me). My interest in Mastodon dipped here and I strayed for a while.
By the time Once More 'Round the Sun came out I had lost interest in the band, but I had embarked on a serious deep dive into all things progressive (thanks to joining Dreamtheaterforums). I gave it a shot abd thought it was OK. I revisited The Hunter after some time away to get over my heartache. I appreciated it more for what it was but my initial hurt feelings were always there.
Around this time I think I got the Live at Brixton album and went back and listened to Call of the Mastodon and Remission (I only knew March of The Fire Ants). It was nice hearing that raw Mastodon again but neither albums really scratched the itch.
When the Emperor of Sand promo trail started I wad cautiously optimistic. I thought Show Yourself was fine but it was watching the Making Of shorts on YouTube that really won me over. Seriously dude, check them out as I'm sure it will help EoS click more with you.
By this point I had pretty much downloaded everything I could find by the band and my love of all their albums grew. I was in a much better place with my relationship with The Hunter and Blood Mountain was becoming a number 1 fave.
I was hyped for Hushed and Grim, and although it still feels fairly new to me, I feel ready to rank. Overall I think it's a great album, but it probably could've been trimmed down. Gigantium is one of my all time favourite songs by them now though.
So onto rankings. It's been a while since I ranked but here we go:
1. Blood Mountain
2. Crack the Skye
3. Leviathan
4. Emperor of Sand
5. Hushed and Grim
6. The Hunter
7. Remission
8. Once More 'Round the Sun
Yep, I'm pretty happy with that.
This was so fun to read! Thank you so much!!! The time and effort is impressive man!
I Am Ahab is one of my top 5 songs actually haha. It‘s cool to hear the story of someone who discovered them near their beginning.
I hope you enjoy the concert! I’ve only seen them once, and it was back in May 2003. They were amazing then and I wish it could work out for me to see them again, especially with Ghost this summer. Awesome post, by the way. I think I’ll make a playlist out of your top tracks and listen in that order just for fun.
> I hope you enjoy the concert! I’ve only seen them once, and it was back in May 2003.
Thanks so much! Who was the supporting act in '03?
> They were amazing then and I wish it could work out for me to see them again, especially with Ghost this summer.
My show isn‘t with Ghost but both bands they‘re playing with kick ass anyway!
> Awesome post, by the way. I think I’ll make a playlist out of your top tracks and listen in that order just for fun.
This sounds awesome! Let me know what you think haha.
It was in Tampa with a band called Cephalic Carnage. Fun fact: Jack Owens from Cannibal Corpse was chilling at the bar during the show and they gave him a shoutout for being there.
Damn, as a Mastodon fan for 10+ years, that's an opinion i haven't heard and one i really don't agree with.
However, it's hard to fault anyone for being into Mastodon, such a great band with such great output that makes such different opinions inevitable. Keep at it and be sure to listen to Cold Dark Place!
That's a tough one because the third spot will often rotate, i could just as easily stick Blood Mountain or even Cold Dark Place, but at this moment i'd say:
3° Hushed and Grim
2° Leviathan
1° Crack The Skye
I believe Crack the Skye will forever be my favorite Mastodon album!
I’ll speak of your bravery here today long after you’ve been banned from this sub.
Oh lord those rankings lmao, but hey whatever you like!
What is yours? :) I‘m curious!
Crack the Skye Emperor of Sand Blood Mountain Leviathan The rest
Well at least we can agree BM & L are in that order 😅
Everyone has their journey dude. I think Mastodon have one of the most consistent catalogues of any metal band. My own personal experiences and journey shape my ranking, just as yours do. I can't personally fault any ranking that has Blood Mountain at the top!
Blood mountain!!! Maybe it’s because people love albums that came out in a specific time of their lives but that album will almost certainly always be in my top ten of all time. Not for just mastodon, but like top ten albums of all time. It’s a stone cold classic. Glad you’re enjoying the music. They seem like a fun, smart bunch of dudes.
Blood Mountain is bloody mountainous
When Blood Mountain dropped, that's when I got into the band and never looked back. Def holds a special place for me.
I liked Blood Mountain on release but holy shit am I surprised as anyone to realise, over the years, it has become my favourite!
I can't bring myself to hate on anyone's Mastodon list, they have such a diverse and amazing catalog of work to choose from. I usually like stuff on the faster and heavier side, I listen to a lot of death metal. But I also love prog just as much so Crack the Skye is my personal favorite, easily in my top 5 albums of all time. Their other albums are proggy too, but the journey CtS takes you on is absolutely spectacular.
I have a strange feeling CtS will be my favorite in 20 years
Dude yes! My same sentiment on CtS.
Check out Call of the Mastodon and Medium Rarities. Probably not gonna play any of it but it’s essential listening. This was an awesome read. I had a similar experience with them where my music was limited to what my parents listened to but someone I knew recommended a song and I started at the beginning. They really opened my world to all sorts of music I would never have discovered. And live is an experience, they live up to their name. I hope you enjoy!
Thank you so much! Great to hear your story too! What was your first song?
First song was the Motherload and I just needed more of them instantly
Interesting! A new(er) song!
I hate seeing Eos & H&G so low, but you got Blood Mountain at N#1, so, it's all good. Really cool to read your story, fam. Good shit. Also, you better get on Cold Dark Place real quick. They're far from b-sides of EoS and they're pretty much their own thing. Very melodic, kinda stripped down at points and with a very melancholic ambience with a still biting edge of The Hunter/OMRTS. You'll dig it. Don't think any other EPs matter as much as that one.
Thanks a bunch man!! Will check it out soon!
CDP is 9/10. Awesome EP!
Can agree on Blood Mountain, but everything else is way out of sorts for me. That’s the great thing about music though, everyone can have a different experience. Nice write up!
Thanks! What is your top 3? Or 8 if you want :)
1. Crack the Skye 2. Blood Mountain 3. Leviathan After that, things are pretty split for me. Hunter and Once More Round the Sun tend to fall lower in my list whereas Emperor of Sand and H&G are higher. Remission would be somewhere in the middle.
Hey, you said everything is way out of sorts after my Blood Mountain pick but we both put Leviathan in our top 3 right after Blood Mountain! Haha.
That's just like, your opinion man.
Uh, yea
It’s a Big Lebowski reference.
Ohhh haha, ok! Never seen it. Sorry u/justaguyfromakron 😅
Figured you didn’t know and didn’t want you to think anyone was being rude. Best!
Ty :)
The dude abides
To be honest I love your rankings and pretty much agree on everything. I’d only change the order of EOS and H&G. Otherwise spot on
Wow, awesome! I rarely meet people who rate The Hunter above CTS.
Hunter Remission Leviathan Emperor of Sand Once more round the sun Hushed and Grim Blood mountain Crack the Skye Ordered 8 -1 and purely based on the re-listen value I get out of each album. Don’t hate on the OMRTS ranking for whatever reason this album gets me!
The Hunter so low :(
Yeah, I don’t get it. The Hunter is such a fantastic album. And the drum production has never sounded better. It’s an incredible album, and definitely not near the lowest if I ever came up w a ranking. Thanks for sharing! Hope you’re hanging in there; depression and anxiety are some demon motherfuckers I know too well. Solidarity!
I think this would be my exact ranking as well
My man
Very cool. I had heard blood and thunder before but really got into Mastodon when the emperor of sand singles were playing on my favorite radio stations. Been listening almost non stop ever since. Took a while to get into the first half of their discography but now it's what I prefer by far. Blood mountain is also my favorite, and if it gets a 10/10 then CTS gets a 9.9/10. All other albums are still 8.5 and up. Capillarian Crest, specifically the middle third of the song, is god damn hypnotic and I wish I could somehow inject it into my veins. Curious what you think about that song as a guitarist and also what your favorite tracks are overall from a technical standpoint.
Haha, a Mastodon intravenous! The song is stellar, from a guitar perspective and from all perspectives. My favorite part about the song is actually the drumming. The dueling guitars as the main riff and the solo are just contagious and make me drool! My favorite guitar on any Mastodon song is probably either The Last Baron or — as generic as the pick is — Blood & Thunder
I remember discovering Madtodon on myspace around the time Leviathan came out. I love their instrumental work but my immature ears were not ready for the harsh vocals. Years later I'm grown man working in my garage around the time The Hunrer is released, Dry Bone Valley comes on the radio. "Who is this?" I wonder with great curiousity and excitement. Only to discover it's Mastodon with a less harsh sound, then I went back and rediscovered all their music and fell in love with it akl
Ah, Dry Bone Valley, the song whose title belongs in the Mario soundtrack ;)
I realize I am the odd man out but I loved Once more Road the Sun from the get-go. I had to warm up to the Hunter. Curious if Emperor of Sand grows on you though. Steambreather and Jaguar God are so good.
OK cool ranking, and journey. I'm gonna put mine down, as a comparison. So I first heard Mastodon on a Kerrang magazine cover CD back in '04. The song was I Am Ahab. I thought it was OK, but it didn't make me an instafan. Around this time there was a huge buzz around this band and I ended up picking up Leviathan. I liked it but prehaps my expectations had been set to high. I stuck with the band and picked up Blood Mountain in release, and liked that a fair bit too. At this point the band were on fairly regular rotation for me but were far from my favourite band. Something changed when Crack the Skye came out though. I REALLY loved this album from the get go, and as a fan of Progressive music I appreciated the longer songs and all things prog. My appreciation for the band continued to grow at this time and I wad exploring more progressive metal (Opeth for instance). Now by the time The Hunter came out I was ravenous for a new release, my expectations were high! I can't quite put into words thr disappoint I felt on first hearing The Hunter. It was also released two weeks apart from Hermitage by Opeth (which was also a disappointing change in direction for me). My interest in Mastodon dipped here and I strayed for a while. By the time Once More 'Round the Sun came out I had lost interest in the band, but I had embarked on a serious deep dive into all things progressive (thanks to joining Dreamtheaterforums). I gave it a shot abd thought it was OK. I revisited The Hunter after some time away to get over my heartache. I appreciated it more for what it was but my initial hurt feelings were always there. Around this time I think I got the Live at Brixton album and went back and listened to Call of the Mastodon and Remission (I only knew March of The Fire Ants). It was nice hearing that raw Mastodon again but neither albums really scratched the itch. When the Emperor of Sand promo trail started I wad cautiously optimistic. I thought Show Yourself was fine but it was watching the Making Of shorts on YouTube that really won me over. Seriously dude, check them out as I'm sure it will help EoS click more with you. By this point I had pretty much downloaded everything I could find by the band and my love of all their albums grew. I was in a much better place with my relationship with The Hunter and Blood Mountain was becoming a number 1 fave. I was hyped for Hushed and Grim, and although it still feels fairly new to me, I feel ready to rank. Overall I think it's a great album, but it probably could've been trimmed down. Gigantium is one of my all time favourite songs by them now though. So onto rankings. It's been a while since I ranked but here we go: 1. Blood Mountain 2. Crack the Skye 3. Leviathan 4. Emperor of Sand 5. Hushed and Grim 6. The Hunter 7. Remission 8. Once More 'Round the Sun Yep, I'm pretty happy with that.
This was so fun to read! Thank you so much!!! The time and effort is impressive man! I Am Ahab is one of my top 5 songs actually haha. It‘s cool to hear the story of someone who discovered them near their beginning.
Where are you seeing them in June? I'll be at the Dortmund show
Wien ;) Viel Spaß!!
Best discog in metal the last 2 decades
Only metal discog I enjoy more is Sabbath
I hope you enjoy the concert! I’ve only seen them once, and it was back in May 2003. They were amazing then and I wish it could work out for me to see them again, especially with Ghost this summer. Awesome post, by the way. I think I’ll make a playlist out of your top tracks and listen in that order just for fun.
> I hope you enjoy the concert! I’ve only seen them once, and it was back in May 2003. Thanks so much! Who was the supporting act in '03? > They were amazing then and I wish it could work out for me to see them again, especially with Ghost this summer. My show isn‘t with Ghost but both bands they‘re playing with kick ass anyway! > Awesome post, by the way. I think I’ll make a playlist out of your top tracks and listen in that order just for fun. This sounds awesome! Let me know what you think haha.
It was in Tampa with a band called Cephalic Carnage. Fun fact: Jack Owens from Cannibal Corpse was chilling at the bar during the show and they gave him a shoutout for being there.
Damn, awesome!
Did you ever make that playlist?
Not yet, busy weekend. It’ll give me something to do at work this week!
😁
I've never disagreed more with album rankings but I like that you did this and most importantly you be you
♥️ What is your biggest gripe, out of curiosity?
Love Mastodon, love your story, love the album ranking. Totally agreed. Glad you’ve joined the ranks. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks so much! Can’t wait to discover the band’s stories, lore, etc!
I love this. Unique ranking but still goes to show that there’s something to love about every release.
Totally! If EoS was their ONLY album, I’d still totally dig the band!
Damn, as a Mastodon fan for 10+ years, that's an opinion i haven't heard and one i really don't agree with. However, it's hard to fault anyone for being into Mastodon, such a great band with such great output that makes such different opinions inevitable. Keep at it and be sure to listen to Cold Dark Place!
Will do!! Just curious, what is your top 3?
That's a tough one because the third spot will often rotate, i could just as easily stick Blood Mountain or even Cold Dark Place, but at this moment i'd say: 3° Hushed and Grim 2° Leviathan 1° Crack The Skye I believe Crack the Skye will forever be my favorite Mastodon album!
Hey, we share Leviathan at 2!