HAVE MASTODON’S LIVE VOCALS GOTTEN BETTER?

I saw Mastodon perform material from Crack the Skye three times during that album cycle, and the vocals were, frankly, cringe-inducing each and every time.  I understand that live performances won’t always be perfect, but I generally expect singers’ performances to be at least vaguely steady and in the same key as the rest of the song. So listening to Mastodon’s The Hunter, one of my major concerns was that there was no chance the band would be able to duplicate the vocal performances live.

But the band performed “Curl of the Burl” on The Late Show With David Letterman last night, and the vocals actually sounded pretty good! I mean, not like Dio-good or anything, but definitely not distractingly bad. I hope they sound this good when I see them in concert next month; this is a level of quality I could totally live with.

The Hunter is out now on Reprise/Warner Bros. You can get tour dates here.

-AR

[via Metal Underground]