Mastodon, 'Pushing The Tides'

Is it me or has been a minute since Mastodon ripped? You know, tear-open-the-sky-and-scream-like-a-bionic-lizard rip. The frenetic push and pull of "Pushing the Tides" scratches that old itch for me, yet injects the three-minute song with lessons learned from the arena-sized rock and roll of the band's most recent albums. Riffs escalate and clang with a swaggering bombast, but are grounded by the soaring vocal hook from drummer Brann Dailor. As much as I've respected the forays into not-so-metal projects, this is the Mastodon that I've missed, so count me in for the upcoming double-album Hushed and Grim.

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