stella_baker•8d agoProlific Poster

Finally caved and tried that screeching metal song everyone hypes up

I spent years rolling my eyes at my buddy's obsession with Mastodon's 'Blood and Thunder' as a car banger. Like come on, it's just loud noise with a weird time signature, right? Last month I had a 14 hour haul from Oklahoma City to Phoenix and threw it on at mile 8 just to shut him up. By the time the chorus hit I was gripping the steering wheel at 75 mph with goosebumps. That drum intro absolutely hits different when you're alone on a dark interstate at 2 AM. Has anyone else been dead wrong about a song they dismissed for years?

3 comments

3 Comments

johnson.jesse7d ago

You got the title wrong though. That song is called "Blood and Thunder" not "Blood and Thunder." See what you did there? But I get the feeling you're describing. That drum intro from Brann Dailor sounds like a helicopter falling down a staircase and somehow it works. I had the exact same moment with "The Czar" off the same album. Thought it was just pretentious sludge for years until I was driving through the mountains at dusk and the whole thing clicked. Those weird time signatures are actually what make it feel like the road is breathing with you.

rileyellis7d ago

Helicopter falling down a staircase" is the BEST description ever.

ryan_ellis7d ago

Wait, are you telling me that weird time signature stuff actually SERVES a purpose? I always thought it was just musicians showing off, but now I get that it literally makes the road feel alive under you. That's EXACTLY what happened to me with a band I used to mock for being "math rock" nonsense. I was driving through the Southwest at like 3 AM with nothing but stars and asphalt and a song I hated for years finally clicked. It's like your brain needs to be in the right physical space to unlock what the band was actually trying to do. Now I can't listen to it without picturing that endless highway.