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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.

Blood Mountain
by Mastodon


9.1

based on 24 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 98 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album

Crack The Skye

The Atlanta metal band's third album marks their major-label debut.

LABEL:	Reprise
RELEASE DATE:	12 September 2006
DISCS:	1 disc
GENRE(S):	Alternative, Rock, Metal

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Alternative Press

Hearing Blood Mountain in its entirety is like awaking from a coma to discover you have working ears. [Oct 2006, p.206]

100

Playlouder

Put simply: there isn't a bad track on 'Blood Mountain', which will be seen as the metal release of this year, on whichever level you care to mention.

100

Drowned In Sound

If you’ve any interest, whatsoever, in rock music in any of its subgenre forms, you need to afford Blood Mountain some considerable attention.

100

PopMatters

With Blood Mountain, Mastodon have completed a three-album arc that most young bands can only dream of, culminating in a record that’s as thrilling as it is multifaceted, as melodic as it is bludgeoning.

100

The Onion (A.V. Club)

Blood Mountain is terrifying in scope as well as execution.

Delusions of Adequacy

One could go on for hours about the qualities of each individual song, but it is the way they coalesce as a whole that makes Blood Mountain an incredible listen from start to finish.

Paste Magazine

A study in elemental force that rides the line between thrash and plod with enlightened originality and compositional skill to spare. [Dec 2006, p.89]

Pitchfork

If Blood Mountain, their brilliantly upsized and unrelenting third album, doesn't confirm their position as the greatest big-time metal crew on earth, I demand a state-by-state recount.

New Musical Express

The perfect entwining of brain and brawn. [9 Sep 2006, p.37]

Observer Music Monthly

A truly original, innovative, heavy-as-hell, interesting heavy metal record that you can listen to more than twice without wanting to smash it to a million pieces with an axe.

Rolling Stone

Yes, sometimes more is better. [21 Sep 2006, p.82]

The New York Times

"Blood Mountain" is a strong record by a powerful band nearing an ideal of cohesion.

All Music Guide

Blood Mountain is everything fans both hoped for and feared. Mastodon has dug even deeper in its foray into prog metal, but without losing an ounce of their power, literacy, or willingness to indulge in hardcore punk, doom, and death metal.

ShakingThrough.net

Intense, invigorating and beguiling.

Uncut

Mastodon mostly veer clear of the slick atmospherics that turn other technical metal bands into post-rock wallpaper. [Oct 2006, p.117]

cokemachineglow

Most of the songs show the band in top form.

Entertainment Weekly

Major-label metal hasn't sounded this hungry since Metallica got haircuts. [20 Oct 2006, p.81]

Q Magazine

Baffling, but exhilarating. [Nov 2006, p.144]

Stylus Magazine

An album of many highlights but not much visceral or emotional impact.

Austin Chronicle

Blood Mountain is a big slab to grab, especially shakier bits such as Josh Homme stinking up "Colony of Birchmen."

Blender

Problem is, Blood Mountain's hail of convoluted riffs and abrupt time-signature changes never settles into one of Leviathan's mammoth grooves. [Oct 2006, p.137]

Spin

They're still not so great at turning their majesitc heft and pushy paradiddles into memorable songs with hooks. [Oct 2006, p.100]

Prefix Magazine

When the members of Mastodon decided to make an audiophile's wet dream of a metal album, they abandoned the vein-bulging spontaneity of their former selves.

The Guardian

Syrupy, multi-tracked vocals akin to Supertramp in a particularly foul mood have replaced the primal roar of old, while their tectonic hugeness has been supplanted by the wearisome over-indulgence of musos at play.

The average user rating for this album is 9.1 (out of 10) based on 98 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Schmidty 15 gave it an8:
These guys are insanely talented musicians. Just think of what they could do if they had a legitimate lead singer!

J H gave it a10:
Great album and an instant classic. Its become a standard that I judge everything else by. The drums continue to blow my mind.

Kyle Z gave it an8:
Not nearly as goo d as levanthian, or remission, there ae some great tracks on here for sure, but Mastodon is clearly getting less hardcore and much more mainstream, hope that this stops.

Israel M gave it a10:
One of the greatest metal songs of late years.

Joshua G gave it a5:
The 20/100 review got it right, even if it was a bit harsh: Mastodon ditched the tectonic, visceral force of Leviathan for technical acrobatics and flashy wankery, something that many other, more technically proficient bands outplay them at anyway. Mastodon were best when they knew the power of the riff and the power of pure fucking METAL; this is an unwanted sideventure into wankage. Colony of Birchmen and Siberian Divide are cool, I suppose, but Capillarian Crest is just pointless wankery that drives me up a fucking wall. Still a decent album, and better than most mainstream metal.

Steve S. gave it a10:
The most original and and interesting album of the decade. Brilliant.

Scott B. gave it a10:
This is THE perfect metal album. Bloody brilliant!

Blood Mountain by Mastodon

Blood Mountain
by Mastodon