Listen: Sahg’s Masterful, Mastodonian ‘Delusions’

It’s true that some external stuff can overshadow the quality of a record, babe, or bud. Think of an album whose author has behaved like an idiot, thereby fraying your connection to their music. Or a superhot fox who mars the act of sweet sexual congress with drama and games. Or, finally, a superdoob that must be smoked in bad company. It happens. Such a waste.

Butttt, despite first impressions, Sahg’s cocksure new album does not represent such an instance. First, let’s discuss the “external stuff”: If you play any two-minute stretch of Delusions Of Grandeur for ten metal people, maybe nine of them shall guess that it’s an outtake from Mastodon’s sessions for Crack The Skye. But no biggie, don’t waste a second getting buttraged: It’s with no prejudice that we can state that Sahg sounds like Mastodon. It’s not an accusation. Some bands sound alike, find inspiration in the same places, share a mentality — no funny stuff intended. We can’t conclude out of hand that it’s the product of a label’s “capitalizing” on the success of a huge band; nor should we rush to imagine four Norwegian musicians perusing Mastodon’s tax records and dashing to a studio to attempt a similar windfall.

So it’s my vibe that we must apply David Lee Roth’s rule of music to Sahg: If it sounds good, then it is good. And Delusions is great! We’ve already let Mastodon off the Skye hook, for we expect them to y’know go where their muse leads; and it works out cuz Sahg is a tidy solution for those of us who want more Skye, more Heritage, and more concept albums that trace the decline of the flawed and tragic. It’s not a trick. U jam!

Sahg’s Delusions Of Grandeur is out tomorrow on Metal Blade. Order here. Watch the spacey video for “Slip Off The Edge Of The Universe” here.