| ...for a leisurely two-and-a-half minutes, sounding in no hurry to get anywhere, quite Tool-like in its impressive chops and mathematically symmetrical composition. It goes from its quieter first part to an even more laid-back second part, and then to some very pretty chords that stretch out and give themselves rich, minor room to breathe, and for a moment I was worried that I was in the presence of The Serious Rock Instrumental, which is a creature I would sooner shoot dead than suffer to inflict its studious wankery on me or my kin. No sooner had I noticed that there might be some Rock Instrumental Seriousness going on, though, than Mastodon cut loose again, and it was fluid, graceful, the drawing of a line from their tight-band-running-through-patterns-for-the-fun-of-it flow to the diasppointing-students-that-mama-didn’t-love rage. The tempo changes are nice but not disorienting; the shouting never enters the often bothersome is-the-dog-listening-too-’cause-this-is-important metalcore range. |
