Heavy Song of the Week is a feature on Heavy Consequence breaking down the top metal, punk, and hard rock tracks you need to hear every Friday. This week, the honor goes to Mastodon and Lamb of God for their collaborative single “Floods of Triton.”
Mastodon and Lamb of God just wrapped up a significant co-headlining tour that saw each band celebrating the 20th anniversary of their respective breakthrough albums, Leviathan and Ashes of the Wake. Like many tours of this nature, each album was performed in its entirety, providing a musical time capsule for concertgoers — and the bands themselves — night in and night out.
We can just picture the Mastodon and LoG guys somewhere on the road in the tour bus, coming up with the idea: “What if we wrote a song together that combined the sound of Leviathan and Ashes?”
Chances are the song may have taken shape before then, but just over a week after the conclusion of the tour, we have that exact collaborative track: “Floods of Triton.”
The compact 4-minute arrangement and sludge-thrash onslaught are pure Leviathan (the song was recorded at Mastodon’s studio with producer Tyler Bates, so it’s safe to assume they handled the music side). Meanwhile, LoG’s Randy Blythe takes the lead vocal, and it turns out his unhinged gutturals — the same that dominate Ashes of the Wake and classic Lamb of God — fit right in over the top of a Mastodon-style track like this one.
Honorable Mentions:
Molder – “Bursted Innards”
There’s been a steady, goopy flow of old-school death metal seeping into our Heavy Song of the Week rundowns as of late, with Joliet, Illinois-based Molder being the latest such act. True to the band’s name, the single “Bursted Innards” is overgrown with sonic fungi — murky Scott Burns-worship production that leaves the instruments and vocals caked in cavernous reverb. That album cover too… the whole package has strong Autopsy vibes, hammered home by the band’s mixture of crawling death-doom and spastic thrash.
Satan – “Frantic Zero”
NWOBHM pioneers Satan just keep going. At this point, their reemergence after 2013’s Life Sentence has to be considered one of the greatest comebacks in heavy metal history. The sheer quality and consistency of the material — the complete lack of drop off — is astounding. No surprise: The brand new full-length album Songs in Crimson is another worthy entry into Satan’s hallowed discography. Continuing their penchant for stellar album openers, “Frantic Zero” is where everyone should start with the new record. The playing is raw and gritty — timeless NWOBHMM — and frontman Brian Ross remains in fine form with a voice that continues to age like fine wine.
Trelldom – “The Voice of What Whispers”
Helmed by Gaahl of Gorgoroth infamy, Norwegian black metal collective Trelldom just released their fourth full-length album, …by the Shadows… — the first LP from the project since 2007. The sound of Trelldom has shifted over the years as Gaahl has surrounded himself with different musicians, and for the new album, percussionist Kenneth Kapstad (Motorpsycho, Thorns) and saxophone player Kjetil Møster entered the fold. Opener “The Voice of What Whispers” introduces a fresh avant style that remains on the outskirts of second-wave black metal while indulging elements of free jazz and noise rock.