Record Store Day releases.

As  I said in my previous post, I am gonna post about some of the releases I got for myself on RSD.

As mentioned there were a lot of records released for this day and the two biggest releases for me were these two:

These are two split singles by Mastodon. The pink one is with The Flaming Lips, where both bands perform their own versions of the same Flaming Lips song "A Spoonfull Weighs A Ton". The other one is a split with Feist. On this one Feist performs a Mastodon song in her own version and Mastodon performs one of hers. Since the style of music is so different between these two it's very fun and interesting to hear the different takes on these songs. Both songs taken from two of the best albums last year.

Mastodon - The Hunter

Mastodon - The Hunter
I just realised that I haven't really written anything about one of (if not THE best) best albums of last year.

It was released in September last year and I feared that I wasn't gonna listen to the album too much as it was released around the same time as Opeth's "Heritage". "The Hunter" was usually my first choice of record to listen to for a long time, and I do still put it on the record player quite frequently. At the moment I'm playing the copy on the picture, the double vinyl edition pressed on 45RPM for beter sound quality. I also got the regular vinyl edition as well as the special edition CD.

If you're not already into Mastodon this record is a perfect introduction to the band as it blends and mix from the entire back catalogue of the band. There are raw punk metal songs that easily could've fit on the bands debut "Remission", there are progressive metal numbers that would have made a good addition to the quality material that made "Leviathan" one of the best albums of the -00s, the melodic riffs that made "Blood Mountain" a beauty to listen to are there as well and last but not least the progressive rock that made "Crack The Skye" the bands true masterpiece are without a doubt featured as well.

This might make the album sound as unfocused and all over the place, but somehow Mastodon manage to keep everything together and "The Hunter" really feels like an album with a clear idea from start to finish.

Meshuggah - Koloss

I wrote about two anticipated releases back in January and now I have both of them!

Meshuggah is another one of those unique bands that play music that you can't really put a label on except Meshuggah music. They've been around for about twenty years and haven't changed much. For me they have gotten better and better over the years. They are better over an entire record now than they were 10-15 years ago. "Destroy, Erase, Improve" and "Chaosphere" might have some of the best songs in the band's career but they aren't as good as the records after "Catch 33".
"Koloss" falls in the same category and after one listen it sounds really promising. I'm lucky that the Mars Volta vinyl won't come out until May, this give me more time to really get in to "Koloss".

Opeth - Heritage

No, I can't wait any longer!! It's being released tomorrow but I won't have it on vinyl until earliest Friday I think. When I pre-ordered the album from the official website I was promised a download code of the entire album the day before it's release.

Today I got two e-mails with a download code in each (I ordered two versions so if anyone wants a code just get in touch:)) and I've just added the album to my iPod so now I'll go to bed and listen to Heritage in my headphones for the first time! I'm excited!!