Mastodon: Once more "'round the sun

Art is a cyclical beast. The same can easily be said of Grammy Award nominated hard rock juggernaut Mastodon. The group"'s four members recognize the importance of life"'s omnipresent cycles on their sixth full-length album, Once More "'Round the Sun. The band orbits around themes of loss and rebirth, twirling a sonic spiral of its signature robust riffing, hypnotically haunting soundscapes, triage of dynamic voices, and thundering seismic grooves. In order to uphold a modus operandi of experimentation and evolution, the boys enlisted the talents of super producer Nick Raskulinecz (Foo Fighters, Rush, Alice In Chains, Deftones, etc.) for the very first time. They holed up in his Falcon Rock studio in Nashville throughout the fall of 2013, cutting what would become Once More "'Round the Sun. Given his passion for the band, Raskulinecz immediately clicked with the musicians. As the fans would wish for, Once More "'Round the Sun, upholds that tradition of progression. They built a band that"'s been able to morph, evolve, and their fan base expects greatness, but they also expect things to be weird and different. With Once More "'Round the Sun they can feel confident that they"'ve risen to that challenge.""