Honestly, analysis fails me with this song. Simply put, it rocks. It's a song for kicking down walls, screaming, and generally letting loose in a way that's animalistic and socially unacceptable. So it's kind of what I'm looking for at the moment. I don't have set playlists exactly, stuff timed out to my daily routine, but for the last week I've always put this on just before I walked into work. I've made it my entrance music, in a way. Maybe it's not the most reasonable way to approach the stresses of a 14-hour work day, but I'll be damned if it doesn't work for me.
Analysis, of course, was also the last thing on Mastodon's mind when they wrote this song, and the entirety of their latest album Once More 'Round The Sun. They've been pretty open in interviews that this album sort of exists in a vacuum - heavy, generally badass, and not concerned with much more than kicking your teeth in. It's perfectly fine, but odd coming from a band that's written metal epics about Moby Dick and, most memorably, a reincarnation of Rasputin that transcends time and space.
The more I listen to Once More, though, the more it grows on me. At first it seemed somewhat off, like it was missing some backbone or grand organizing scheme. But over a couple of listens it dawned on me: this is a metal mood piece, stitched together not by some greater theme, but rather by an attitude, a look, a vibe. Once More 'Round The Sun is held together not by some classical story, but by that feeling you get when you're blasting it in your car, and you turn to the guy next to you at the stop light to find him head-banging as well. It speaks to a universal sense of joy in aggression, in anger, and, perhaps most of all, in loud and violent expression.
Or, y'know, maybe it's just a damn good metal album.
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