Mastodon’s Emperor of Sand is a serious, bleak concept album about mortality so it’s a delight that the accompanying video for lead single “Show Yourself” was a goofy riff on that subject matter. The band is continuing that comedic tone in the new video for album track “Steambreather,” which takes the title and theme of knowing yourself into realms you could never imagine.
The clip follows two metalhead/slacker dudes as they’re sucked into the increasingly horrific machinations of a “nasal enlightenment” cult. It goes from new age breathing meditations to nostrils being gruesomely stretched to people melting into putty from psychedelic vision quests. From: https://www.vice.com/en/article/mastodons-steambreather-video-is-funny-but-will-make-you-fear-noses/
In interviews, Mastodon have discussed the elemental themes of their albums. They mentioned that they tried to commit an album exclusively to air but that wood, somehow, found its way onto the record, fairly consistently. In all seriousness, I appreciate the honesty and lack of irony in this statement and this submission to the most natural of inspirations. It’s almost as if very little cognizant songwriting even takes place and instead the Atlanta outfit channels otherworldly mysticism.
Continuing this trajectory of commitment to elemental derivatives is Mastodon’s Emperor of Sand. “Sultan’s Curse” hears the roaring guitar riffs lay an aggressive ambience for the trio of singers. Meanwhile, the oddly ethereal “Clandestiny” hears what feels like a brutally extemporaneous jam session, its unpredictable melodies a nod to the group’s fondness for anthropomorphized nature. Perhaps most significant about the group’s seventh effort is its lack argumentative content. Put another way, Emperor of Sand feels very much more abstract and descriptive of the world in which it’s housed; tracks like “Scorpion Breath” and “Roots Remain” seem to explicate the world around them, rather than call for a drastic societal change. From: https://www.treblezine.com/34560-mastodon-emperor-of-sand-review/
