An Invitation to Clairvoyance, it’s Hard to Stand Around and Watch While They Ignore Us.
Mastodon and the Ashes of Leviathan Tour. 2024. Vol. 1
(Photo Credit Tanner Coward)
Lord have mercy, one of my personally most anticipated tours of the year finally rolled through the mitten. The 20th anniversary of two of the greatest metal albums of all time, and a massive chunk of the soundtrack to my senior year. Mastodon and Lamb of God joined forces yet again to celebrate “Leviathan” and “Ashes of the Wake” what a fucking billing. I spent many nights chain smoking menthols with my brother Billy, just jamming to these two records as we would end the night at the pool hall and head to a nearby park with our illegally obtained cheap booze and a fresh pack of Newports ready to rock and shoot the shit till the sun came up. Both of these albums ushered in a new meaning to heavy music for me. Sure, I had been dabbling in the commercial grade nu metal that littered the air waves, but these albums were different.
Clutch was a recent addition to my soundtrack, and set precedents that had yet been seen on my iPod. When Billy forked over Leviathan and Ashes, the Holy trinity was completed and the needle went in long and deep sending my ear into a long missing abyss of pure metallic bliss.
Leviathan bridged the gap between Clutch and Lamb of God. A rag tag bunch of heavy hitters from Hotlanta that took the groove metal from Clutch and hammered it home with a newfound ferocity and intensity that wasn’t found on the Wrif or 89x at the time. It was magical and the album sends you on a journey to the center of Herman Melville’s warped mind. Bringing some stones to a literary classic. Did these guys really cut a record about Moby Dick? And why does it jam so goddamn hard? I would have read the fucker instead of trying to drop fingers into the gals sitting next to me in English class if I knew it had so much potential.
I’ve seen Mastodon a bunch of the years, with Lamb of God opening for Slayer, co-headling jaunts with Clutch, Gojira, Coheed always such a powerful stage presence and the ability to work a room with southern hospitality and big nut energy. There is a reason they are giants in their line of work.
This gig was special though, a landmark album being played in its entirety, a gift to the masses who have been through it over the years with these guys. The album still holds up and sounded incredible live. Sure you’ve gotten tastes of it over the years but not like this, track for track in all of its marine metal glory.
They wasted no time getting down to business and delivering a scorching set that brought back a thousand memories of my youth and over the years. A record that still gets plenty of plays from me.
They are loud, and tight, a group of dudes that have an earnest connection on stage and succeed quite well with their musical abilities. They are just real swell.
The only bummer is the lack of bonus material as they ran through Leviathan and only gave us three extra tracks, although they were classics none the less, the crowd was treated to Circle of Cysquatch, Steam Breather and More Than I Could Chew.
There isn’t much room to complain, they aren’t the Ramones and serve up 2 minute finger foods. Each track is close to a full blown meal and they feed us real good Saturday night. Warming up the stage for their cohorts in Lamb of God to bring the evening to close.