Mastadon’s second full-length, “Leviathan,” is a mix of technical proficiency and high concept — the record takes inspiration from Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick.” As such, the album is loaded with nautical imagery: crashing waves, air-bound harpoons and mermaids all make appearances. But it’s not the “magic in the water” that draws the Atlanta quartet to this fish tale. The lure is Melville’s tragic hero, Captain Ahab, a man who comes to embody the murderous urges that hold mankind back in its struggle for divine justice. “Blood and Thunder” opens the album with an intensity matched only by that of Ahab’s hunt, hard-charging guitars and bloodthirsty vocals. “Megalodon” finds the band exploring its range, thrash metal guitars briefly giving way to a Southern rock lick before sliding back into a frenzy of strings and skins — drummer Brann Dailor’s thunderous precision is a constant revelation.
Taking a less studied approach to the guitar epic is Santa Cruz’s Comets On Fire. With its third release, “Blue Cathedral,” the band has crafted an album that should appeal to metal-heads and stoners alike. Oftentimes, “Cathedral” has the feel of an impressionist painting: layered six-string and repeated themes taking the place of a rigid verse-chorus-verse structure. The instrumental “Pussy Foot the Duke” embodies these conceptual leanings with its breezy guitar and a piano line so delicate it could shatter at any moment. Contrast this with the saxophone-and-guitar rave-up of “Antlers of the Midnight Sun,” and it’s clear that Comets, like Mastadon, defy categorization.
