Advanced Search >
Help Me Search

Music

All-Time High (And Low) Scores
Best Of 2009
Best Of 2008
Best Of 2007
Best Of 2006
Best Of 2005
Best Of 2004
Best Of 2003
Best Of 2002
Best Of 2001
Best Of 2000

Upcoming &
Recent Releases

sort by namesort by score

62 50 Cent
70 AFI
65 Air
70 Alice In Chains
53 Kris Allen
78 Amerie
79 Annie
76 Anti-Pop Consortium
86 The Antlers
75 Arctic Monkeys
68 As Tall As Lions
82 Atlas Sound
77 The Avett Brothers
67 Backstreet Boys
59 Bad Lieutenant
68 Devendra Banhart
71 Lou Barlow
88 Baroness
69 Basement Jaxx
81 David Bazan
72 Beak>
72 Brendan Benson
84 Biffy Clyro
72 The Big Pink
95 Big Star
46 Billy Talent
75 The Black Crowes
72 The Black Heart Procession
68 Blitzen Trapper
75 BLK JKS
53 Bon Jovi
76 A.A. Bondy
65 Boys Like Girls
76 Brand New
73 Tyondai Braxton
83 Brother Ali
72 Ian Brown
75 Michael Buble
77 Built To Spill
61 Colbie Caillat
78 Califone
69 Mariah Carey
81 Brandi Carlile
72 Julian Casablancas
83 Rosanne Cash
71 Castanets
65 The Cave Singers
82 Nick Cave & Warren Ellis
64 Exene Cervenka
79 Vic Chesnutt
75 Choir Of Young Believers
81 Circulatory System
67 The Clean
84 The Clientele
72 Cold Cave
85 Converge
71 Eric Copeland
76 The Cribs
79 Cymbals Eat Guitars
62 Dashboard Confessional
71 Datarock
59 Dead By Sunrise
76 Dead Man's Bones
77 Del The Funky Homosapien & Tame One
88 Destroyer
73 Do Make Say Think
63 The Dodos
77 Drive-By Truckers
67 Bob Dylan
58 Echo & The Bunnymen
61 Electric Six
44 The Entrance Band
69 Fanfarlo
71 Jay Farrar And Benjamin Gibbard
63 Felix Da Housecat
68 Fink
66 Orenda Fink
79 The Flaming Lips
66 Flight Of The Conchords
79 Florence And The Machine
67 John Fogerty
83 Fuck Buttons
71 Nelly Furtado
47 Gary Go
68 Ghostface Killah
79 Girls
69 Gossip
62 David Gray
66 David Guetta
65 Calvin Harris
79 Richard Hawley
74 Mayer Hawthorne
66 Headlights
79 HEALTH
77 Joe Henry
67 Hockey
67 Whitney Houston
80 Hudson Mohawke
68 Imogen Heap
59 Jack Ingram
79 Islands
74 Jamie T
65 Jay-Z
51 Jet
68 Daniel Johnston
76 Norah Jones
77 Karen O And The Kids
72 Toby Keith
69 Kid Cudi
75 Kid Sister
66 Kings Of Convenience
62 Sean Kingston
64 KISS
63 Mark Knopfler
73 Kris Kristofferson
68 KRS-One & Buckshot
76 La Roux
85 Miranda Lambert
72 Ledisi
71 Sondre Lerche
56 Juliette Lewis
62 Leona Lewis
82 Lightning Bolt
74 Little Dragon
44 Pixie Lott
83 Patty Loveless
73 Lyle Lovett
79 Lucero
75 Baaba Maal
77 Madness
84 Madonna
85 Manic Street Preachers
61 Maps
73 Mario
55 Massive Attack
57 Matisyahu
62 John Mayer
67 Reba McEntire
66 Tim McGraw
65 Brian McKnight
79 Mew
75 Mika
68 Amy Millan
76 Mission Of Burma
75 Molina And Johnson
80 Monsters Of Folk
66 Morrissey
85 Mount Eerie
76 The Mountain Goats
62 Múm
72 Muse
66 Willie Nelson
82 Nirvana
96 Nirvana
80 No Age
71 Noah And The Whale
75 Noisettes
79 Nudge
64 OneRepublic
47 Dolores O'Riordan
74 Os Mutantes
78 Osso
67 Alec Ounsworth
81 Owen
73 Paramore
78 Pastels And Tenniscoats
54 Sean Paul
80 Pearl Jam
69 Jemina Pearl
72 Jack Penate
65 Phish
82 Pissed Jeans
61 Pitbull
79 A Place To Bury Strangers
79 Polvo
72 Porcupine Tree
72 Port O'Brien
79 Q-Tip
79 R.E.M.
88 Raekwon
69 Rain Machine
70 Ramona Falls
75 Dizzee Rascal
74 The Raveonettes
79 Real Estate
76 Jay Reatard
81 Rodrigo Y Gabriela
66 Omar Rodriguez-Lopez
78 Russian Circles
69 Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions
78 Say Anything
61 Sally Shapiro
78 Shudder To Think
70 Simian Mobile Disco
58 Simple Minds
72 Six Organs Of Admittance
80 Slayer
61 The Slits
78 Soulsavers
77 Speech Debelle
58 Spiral Stairs
58 Squarepusher
55 Steel Panther
75 Sufjan Stevens
52 Rod Stewart
68 Joss Stone
83 Barbra Streisand
77 A Sunny Day In Glasgow
74 Susanna And The Magical Orchestra
79 The Swell Season
80 David Sylvian
83 Taken By Trees
80 Tegan And Sara
68 The Temper Trap
78 The Dutchess & The Duke
71 The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
74 Them Crooked Vultures
72 Themselves
82 They Might Be Giants
67 Third Eye Blind
66 J Tillman
69 Times New Viking
57 Tokio Hotel
67 Trey Songz
73 Frank Turner
71 The Twilight Sad
60 Carrie Underwood
56 The Used
68 Various Artists
69 Various Artists
77 The Very Best
70 Kurt Vile
65 Vivian Girls
71 Volcano Choir
73 Rufus Wainwright
78 Wale
57 Weezer
81 White Denim
76 Why?
83 Wild Beasts
80 Wildbirds & Peacedrums
69 Robbie Williams
59 Andrew W.K.
65 Wolfmother
84 The xx
79 Yo La Tengo
83 Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band
52 Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson
59 Zero 7

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.

Blood Mountain

EMAILPRINTby Mastodon

Mastodon reviews
82
9.1 User Score:

Album Info

Label: Reprise

Release Date: 12 September 2006

Discs: 1 disc

Genre(s): Alternative, Rock, Metal

Summary

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

What The Critics Said

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.

Read Full Review >
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.

Read Full Review >
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.

Read Full Review >
100

The Onion (A.V. Club)

Blood Mountain is terrifying in scope as well as execution.

Read Full Review >
90

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.

Read Full Review >
90

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]

87

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.

Read Full Review >
80

New Musical Express

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

80

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.

Read Full Review >
80

Rolling Stone

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

80

The New York Times

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

Read Full Review >
80

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.

Read Full Review >
80

ShakingThrough.net

Intense, invigorating and beguiling.

Read Full Review >
80

Uncut

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

77

cokemachineglow

Most of the songs show the band in top form.

Read Full Review >
75

Entertainment Weekly

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

70

Q Magazine

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

67

Stylus Magazine

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

Read Full Review >
67

Austin Chronicle

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

Read Full Review >
60

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]

50

Spin

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

50

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.

Read Full Review >
20

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.

Read Full Review >

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this album is 9.1 (out of 10) based on 99 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!

Read more user comments >

Popular on CBS sites: SEC Football | NFL | Video Game Cheats | iPhone | Video Game Reviews | Notebooks | Antivirus Software

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy (UPDATED) | Terms of Use