Album Review: Mastodon – Live At Brixton

Mastodon
Live At Brixton
Warner Music 

Live At Brixton is a punishing set of pure metal mayhem that only Mastodon can deliver. Having previously seen these guys live, I’m not at all surprised by their technical perfection. Mastodon was destined to be a powerhouse headliner and they prove it here at the Brixton stop of the 2012 tour for their The Hunter album. This live album has 24 tracks and delivers killer originals like “Crystal Skull”, “Capillarian Crest”, “Colony of Birchmen” and “Circle of Cysquatch”, keeping hardcore fans on their feet while loving every second of the concert. There is next to no banter between songs – they keep the punishment coming with no breaks. One of my favourite moments is during the intro of the final song “Creature Lives”; it’s a trippy, cinematic piece that reminds me of the intro to Motley Crue’s Shout At The Devil album. It adds a much-needed break into the insane pace of the concert. In terms of its production, I found this release to be lacking in audio quality and would have liked to hear a more polished end product. There’s muddiness throughout the songs and I found that the vocals were not coming through that well at times. With that aside, this release comes highly recommended to any Mastodon fan out there.

Andre Skinner (Twitter @andreskinner)

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