The Hunter (Remastered) Mastodon

• 1Black Tongue03:27
• 2Curl of the Burl03:40
• 3Blasteroid02:35
• 4Stargasm04:39
• 5Octopus Has No Friends03:48
• 6All the Heavy Lifting04:31
• 7The Hunter05:17
• 8Dry Bone Valley03:59
• 9Thickening04:30
• 10Creature Lives04:41
• 11Spectrelight03:09
• 12Bedazzled Fingernails03:08
• 13The Sparrow05:30
• Total Runtime52:54

Info for The Hunter (Remastered)

The Hunter, the follow-up to 2009's critically embraced Crack The Skye, was recorded in the band's hometown of Atlanta as well as in Los Angeles with producer Mike Elizondo. As with all of their albums, Mastodon, which is bassist/vocalist Troy Sanders, guitarist/vocalist Brent Hinds, guitarist Bill Keliher, and drummer/vocalist Brann Dailor, decided to take a completely different tack and musical approach to the music on this album. The band feels confident that fans will be excited and fulfilled by what they will hear.

„On 2011’s The Hunter, Mastodon abandoned the proggy, conceptual route taken on previous outings, choosing instead to mine the trailblazing, riff-heavy abandon of their 2004 masterpiece, Leviathan. Mastodon's increasingly accessible sound may not land them a hit anytime soon, but cuts like “Black Tongue,” “Curl of the Burl,” and “Balsteroid,” all of which arrive in sequence at the front of the set, show a willingness to write within the parameters of 21st century pop music’s dark side. That’s not to say that the band has pulled its head out of the vastness of space, as there are more than enough tracks here to satisfy fans who prefer the sludgy, drop-D epics of yore to the more organized roar of The Hunter's front end. Fueled by Brãnn Dailor's jazzy, machine-gun drumming, songs like “Octopus Has No Friends,” “All the Heavy Lifting,” and “Bedazzled Fingernails,” despite coming in at under five minutes, are epically arranged, and the surprisingly hummable, bass melody-led swamp monster anthem “Creature Lives” sounds like a Sabbathy, Lovecraftian take on Jane’s Addiction's “Summertime Rolls.” The closest Hunter comes to reaching an apex is on the breathless “Spectrelight,” a relentless three-minute slab of pure unadulterated fury that will probably clock in at around a minute and half live, but it’s an album that doesn’t really need to peak, as it never promises a thing it can’t back up, boldly and loudly.“ (James Christopher Monger, AMG)

Brann Dailor, drums, vocals
Brent Hinds, guitar, vocals
Bill Kelliher, guitar
Troy Sanders, bass, vocals

Recorded at Sound City Studios, Van Nuys, California; Doppler Studios, Atlanta, Georgia
Produced by Mike Elizondo

Digitally remastered

Mastodon
are an explosive, unbridled force. Possessing an uncanny song-writing sense, fearless innovation, unparalleled technical ability and a bottomless pool of raw talent and creativity, Mastodon are inarguably one of the most exciting new bands to form in the last 10 years.

In order to re-focus and regroup after leaving TODAY IS THE DAY in 1999, drummer Brann Dailor and guitarist Bill Kelliher opted to move back to their hometown of Rochester, New York. There, Dailor and Kelliher united with their former band Lethargy for a swansong show and demo. With the final chapter in Lethargy closed, the musicians moved to Atlanta, Georgia in January 2000 for a new start.

Only three weeks after arriving in Atlanta, Dailor and Kelliher met bassist Troy Sanders and guitarist Brent Hines at a High On Fire show that Hinds put on in his basement. Dailor and Kelliher had almost a decade of playing and touring experience together; Sanders and Hines had a half-dozen.

Within a few weeks of forming, the quartet's intense songwriting chemistry generated a myriad of hard-hitting songs. These songs merely touched the surface of the outfit's boundless well of ideas.

Under the name Mastodon, the group recorded their first demo in June 2000. With a new demo in hand, the band started a tireless tour schedule, covering most of the Eastern US as well as playing numerous regional dates supporting Queens Of The Stone Age, Morbid Angel, Cannibal Corpse and many others. Mastodon's exceptional live performances impressed to such an extent that within months a contract was inked and the band welcomed to the Relapse family.

Mastodon's exceptional live performance impressed Relapse to such an extent that within months a contracted was inked, and Mastodon welcomed to the Relapse family.

In the spring of 2001, Mastodon once again blazed through the Eastern U.S. with Eyehategod, Keelhaul and Burnt By The Sun. Mastodon blew the doors off every venue along the tour, leaving a whole new contingent of music fans awestruck and hungry for more. Their formidable live reputation helped land them a summer tour again through the East Coast and Midwest, where they linked up with The Fucking Champs. The tour lead them through innumerable festivals (Milwaukee Metalfest, Hellfest, World Series of Metal, and Mid-South Metal Fest) whose attendees witnessed an entirely new form of power and intensity.

In August, Mastodon's Relapse debut EP "Lifesblood" hit with adamantine force. "Lifesblood" illustrated the band's incredible technical prowess, memorable hooks, and earthshaking ability to rock that they had been delivering night after night in club after club.

Not only did "Lifesblood" put them on the map, it proved once and for all that Mastodon were their own band with a sound and vision that defied categorization.

Eager to continue moving forward, Mastodon honed their new material and entered Man Or Astroman?'s Zero Return Studios in Atlanta with producer/engineer Matt Bayles (Isis, Burnt By The Sun, Pearl Jam) in October, 2001 to record their first full-length "Remission".

If "Lifesblood" was just the eye-opening introduction, Mastodon certainly awakened the slumbering heavy music scene on "Remission". "Remission" bridges the soulful and technical as herculean yet incisive song-writing is effortlessly fused with an expansive and emotive tenor. Creative, distinct, graceful and strong, Mastodon's "Remission" features the traits of a benchmark release, a standard to which others will be held and ultimately measured by. Rarely is rock so pure and hard-hitting.

Songs such as the galloping "March Of The Fire Ants", the beautiful "Ol'e Nessie", "Mother Puncher"'s labyrinthine guitar workout, and the punishing "Workhorse" are nothing short of insta-classics, and the albums remaining seven tracks are not far behind.

The quartet dug into their roadwork hard upon the release of "Remission". First a two-month North American Tour supporting High On Fire, followed by strings of dates supporting Hatebreed, Clutch, and Five Pointe O followed. The quartet finished out a busy 2002 with a Japanese Tour with High On Fire and a quick Eastern US run supporting The Dillinger Escape Plan.

The Melville's 'Moby Dick'-based new album 'Leviathan', recorded in Robert Lang Studios and Litho Studios in Seattle under the aegis of producer Matt Bayles is scheduled for late August 2004.

This album contains no booklet.