Atomic Blawg: The 333 Best Pop Songs of the 2000s: #298

#298: "Capillarian Crest" (2006) - Mastodon

My metal mood has carried over from Friday, so much so that--for the first (and I hope only) time--I decided to add a song to the list (which meant, of course, that I had to take one off as well; so, sorry Fergie, I had to bump your humps), a song I included on my list's original incarnation last summer but excised because I felt it wasn't truly a pop song (in structure), that--while great--it's classification (though I'm usually loathe to classify music) lied elsewhere.

This weekend, after listening to the Probot album a couple or ten times, I started jonesing for more metal, and I re-discovered "Capillarian Crest" by the progressive heavy metal outfit Mastodon (whose music is sometimes as lumbering--and always as heavy--as its namesake). I played it once, and boy, I'd forgotten how loud it was, how the song just assaults the ears and the mind; it's not designed for passive listening--it demands you either pay attention or turn it off. The record runs through about a dozen changes in chord, key, time signature, and tempo. The song so rapidly and abruptly paces through these various changes that for those not used to listening to heavy metal on a regular basis, initial listening isn't completely pleasurable. It took me a couple of listens before I became comfortable enough with the song that I could discern a pattern--and that pattern--that structure*--is pop.

Most of the other songs Mastodon have recorded either don't have this pop structure, or they simply aren't as good (or as accessible, possibly meaning my listening isn't as good). Not that "Capillarian Crest" is music for the massess--it's certainly not--but once the method Mastodon employs here becomes apparent, then the subtle nuances of the song become apparent, then Mastodon's concession to pop-music structure pays off powerfully, when after two-and-a-half minutes of tough, fast, frenetic, difficult metal, the song rewards patience as it suddenly drops tempo by half and settles into a melodic, 4/4, Alice-in-Chains-style dirge, the tension immediately released, resulting in a refreshing sway...for about thirty seconds, wherein the guitars start chugging double-time and yanking the listener back up by the lobes.

"Capillarian Crest" offers a few more pop (in the broadest sense) sonic nuggets to the discerning listener: in addition to the aforementioned Alice-in-Chains bit, there's a bit of the old Kurt Cobain distortd growl in the vocals (which includes actual singing, not the nigh-inaudible screeching, gutteral, sotto voce bellows so typical of heavy metal today), a bit of the Smashing Pumpkins' layered-guitar sound, more than a bit of Rush's time-signature guitar-noodling, and for all the headbangers, there's Metallica and Megadeth-inspired guitar chugging (and the lyrics--what few I can comprehend, cop from Metallica as well).

For the serious musician, there's much to admire, as these guys--well, if my band ever grew this adept at our instruments, we'd just quit. I don't know why, but we would. Anywho, the song's not too dissimilar from hard bop/free jazz, Mastodon vamping on their guitars and drums much like Coltane did on his sax. The production--especially for a heavy metal record--is both clean and meaty, allowing for all the precise licks to come through clearly while still giving the music the crunch to knock your socks off. After a few minutes barefoot, you might decide to toss them back to the shore and come out and wade in the waves of Mastodian metal. I did. I hope to come up for air soon. If I'm not back by tomorrow, send a search crue.

NOTES*

Here's the song's structure: