The Hunter (Mastodon album)
Occupation
- Vocals / Bass: Troy Sanders
- Guitar / Vocals: Brent Hinds
- Guitar: Bill Kelliher
- Drums: Brann Dailor
The Hunter is the fifth studio album by the American Progressive-Metal-/Sludge-Band Mastodon. It was released on 23 September 2011 on Reprise Records. With the album, Mastodon were the first to place in the top ten of the U.S. album charts. The single Curl of the Burl was nominated in 2012 for a Grammy in the Best Hard Rock / Metal Performance category.
Formation
Faster than planned could start on their fifth studio album, the musicians with the work. Originally wanted Mastodon in September 2010 start work. Once in the spring of 2010, about ten songs were almost finished composing it was decided to wait no longer. With Mike Elizondo, the musicians decided on a new music producer, who has previously worked mainly for hip- hop artists such as Dr. Dre or Eminem. The new songs were made as opposed to earlier more compact and less progressive.
"Our approach was less time to go to ausschmückend works. Crack the Skye as had many different textures and levels, and I think that we have done everything in this rather epic corner with it. For this reason we wanted this time going in the opposite direction. "
Drummer Brann Dailor experimented in the recordings with unscrewed resonance skins at his instrument and played less fills. In an interview he stated that he had in a drum sound like the Genesis album Duke. In the song Spectrelight be heard as a guest musician, the singer Scott Kelly of the band Neurosis. Kelly also contributed parts of the text.
The Hunter was recorded at Sound City Studios in Van Nuys and in the Doppler Studios in Atlanta. The album was mixed by Adam Hawkins, the mastering done by Ted Jensen. For the song Black Tongue Curl of the Burl and music videos were filmed. On the album cover was a photograph of a wood carving can be seen. Was designed the character of AJ Fosik.
Background
During the first four studio albums by Mastodon a generic topic, one element of the four- element theory had, there is no main theme in The Hunter. Brann Dailor stated that some songs would hang together thematically. Several songs deal with them, to protect a person or to care for that person.
"All four previous albums were part of an overall concept. With Crack the Skye [ ... ] we had completed the book. The newfound freedom, both musically and in content able to do anything, did us good. Suddenly it was we are free to travel wherever we want. So we traveled towards the origins of rock ' n ' roll. "
The album title The Hunter (English for, The Hunter ') is a tribute to the brother of singer and guitarist Brent Hinds, who suffered a heart attack during a hunting trip and died. The title of Blasteroid is based on the computer game Asteroid. In Octopus Has No Friends is about the in-band- discussed question of whether octopuses have friends or not.
Creature Lives is loud Brann Dailor a tribute to the movie Creature from the Amazon. The song Bedazzled Fingernails is a tribute to black-and- white twisted horror movies.
Reception
Reviews
Michael Rensen of the German magazine Rock Hard The Hunter saw in " the finest space - trips with beautiful views and tidy oomph in the ion drive ". Only with the " unsuccessful single" Curl of the Burl, the band would " drive the wrong galaxy ." Rensen gave the album eight out of ten. Petra Schurer by the German magazine Metal Hammer called The Hunter as " terrific and exciting at the same time ", as the band " has its roots refreshes sent embeds in a modern context and its range expanded a bit ." She gave the album six out of seven points. Even in foreign media genre, the album was positive. Mike Diver of the BBC summed up his criticism by saying, "You may not Metal? Vielleichst do you like Mastodon. "
Chart positions
The Hunter reached # 10 in the U.S. album charts and was sold about 39,000 times in the first week after publication. For the first time, the band was able to place in the top ten of the charts. Compared to the previous album Crack the Skye were less sold 2,000 copies in its first week. In the UK, the album reached number 19 in Germany 20th place Ranked 23, the album climbed both in Austria and in Switzerland. The highest chart position was achieved in Norway, where the album was able to place eighth position itself.
Awards
The British magazine Kerrang, Metal Hammer and Terrorizer chose The Hunter each album of the year 2011. A year later the work was excellent in each case both the Kerrang Awards as well as at the Golden Gods Awards of the British Metal Hammer as the best album.