Mastodon scales hooky new heights on ‘Once More ‘Round the Sun’

The beauty of a veteran band’s growing catalog is the context it provides for its individual parts. The sixth full-length album from Atlanta metal superpower Mastodon is out today; it’s called Once More ‘Round the Sun, and it’s terrific, top to bottom. It also offers new perspective on the band’s previous record, 2011’s The Hunter which sounded like an ambitious and skilled quartet working to find its footing in the midst of a stylistic shift. Where The Hunter succeeds, it does so not because of the material within, but because of Mastodon’s pure, brute strength. It’s like a baseball pitcher grinding his way to a win on a night when he doesn’t have his best stuff. In other words, Mastodon playing anything is still Mastodon.

On Once More ‘Round the Sun, the band is back on solid ground, dishing out the kind of muscular riffs that made them famous, but also skyscraping, breathtaking hooks that are more fully realized than those on The Hunter. Mastodon also sounds more confident when delivering them here. The album begins with four swift gut punches: After lead track “Tread Lightly,” which sounds as though it’s growled from the bottom of a canyon, the band rips through three retro-vibed earworms, invoking Ozzy on “The Motherload,” dropping a serrated pop chorus into the chug of “High Road,” and stretching out the bracing title track with nods to its prog-leaning past.

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Of all the songs on the new record, “Chimes at Midnight” might be the most “old Mastodon,” with its astral intro, bludgeoning riff and labyrinthine bridge. It’s a palate-cleansing prelude to its mid-album prog-partner, “Asleep in the Deep,” a gauzy number that sounds like Alice in Chains at its prettiest, and acts as the peak of this roller coaster’s slow climb before it whooshes through its back end, where highlights include a punkish rager (“Feast Your Eyes”) and some Queens of the Stone Age-style swagger (“Halloween”). Hook wise, Once More ‘Round the Sun scales new heights and sacrifices none of Mastodon’s preternatural power to get there. Some longtime fans may not love the album, but it erases the post-Hunter worry that Mastodon was heading down a path of diminishing returns.

4 stars