Mastodon (Band)

This Week's Top Show Announcements: Divine Fits, Blue Oyster Cult, Ben Folds Five, Rob Zombie and More

As we sit in our cubicles, school chairs or desks today, the Texas sky is relentless with its 73-degree beauty, tempting all of us to turn on some tunes, throw up our hands and have recess. Texas has just reached the perfect time of year when all of the alchemy is correct for hosting a plethora of m ... More >>

Dallas' Late Mike Scaccia Gets Inducted into Decibel's Hall of Fame, Talk Area History

It's probably fair to suggest that we here at DC9 have been on a bit of a metal kick as of late. But who can blame us, for this? Recent shows from The Deftones, Graveyard and Testament, to go along with ear-busting discoveries and all kinds of Mastodon news has made many of our metal jeans get extra ... More >>

Monsters University's Soundtrack will Feature Mastodon. How Did That Happen?

Why are Mastodon writing music for the new Monsters Inc. prequel, Monsters University? As this blog's self-appointed Mastodon Correspondent (the position pays as well as you'd imagine), I have been ordered to conduct an immediate investigation into this somewhat unexpected turn of events, lest we al ... More >>

"Leviathan" Is the Best Metal Album of the Millennium

Many "best of metal" lists recently have overlooked an album which is, in my generally poor opinion, not only worthy of a place on these lists, but the best, most interesting, and most exciting metal album released this millennium. This album is Mastodon's "Leviathan". This album has so much going f ... More >>

The Worst Supergroups Of All Time

A supergroup is a difficult project to make a success of. The work of previous band members overshadows any new material, and although it brings a ready-made fan base, it also brings unreasonably high expectations. Not only that, those that make up the new band might have similarly unreasonably high ... More >>

True Widow Signs to Legendary Label Relapse Records

News spread pretty quickly on Tuesday afternoon when a press release went out with the following words: "True Widow Signs With Relapse Records." Relapse, the renowned label that's best know for releasing classic records by Mastodon, The Dillinger Escape Plan and Baroness, might sound like an odd c ... More >>

Converge's Jacob Bannon On Queen, Texas Wrestling and Being a Licensed Mixed Martial Arts Instructor

Jacob Bannon, lead singer of the mighty Converge, returns to Dallas tomorrow night at Dada, as the four-piece promotes their latest, All We Love We Leave Behind. We caught up with him about the first record he bought, his first tattoo, how he got into mixed martial arts and his love for Texas wrestl ... More >>

Melvins Pair With Scion A/V, and Join This Year's Free Music Model

Opeth, Mastodon, Ghost - Palladium Ballroom - 4/19/12

Opeth, Mastodon, Ghost Palladium Ballroom Thursday, April 19 Last night started with Sweden's Ghost, a wonderfully over-the-top six-piece that lit uncountable amounts of incense before they even hit the stage. I felt like I had entered a heavy metal meditation therapy session. Featuring costumes th ... More >>

Brann Dailor of Mastodon: "The Live Shows Are A Separate Piece Of Art"

Like the beast it's named after, Atlanta's Mastodon is fairly ugly and makes a hell of a racket. In just over a decade, the band has released five albums and each has been better than the last, culminating in 2011's The Hunter. Speaking from the tour bus and in anticipation of tonight's show at The ... More >>

Between the Buried and Me

Kaleidoscopic prog-metal goes conceptual

Soundgarden's Kim Thayil Talks His Band's Legacy, Plus Grunge's Revival and Future.

Kim Thayil​With the 20th anniversary edition of Nevermind being released earlier this year -- and with the subsequent buzz it churned -- it would seem we are on the brink of a full-blown grunge resurgence. But what is being somewhat overlooked in all the Nirvana hype is that the early '90s Seattle ... More >>

Get To Know Your DOMAXXIII Nominees: Best Song, Best Metal Act, BestFunk/R&B Act

​Welcome to our 2011 Dallas Observer Music Awards breakdown, wherein we'll use the weeks leading up to the DOMA showcases on Saturday, October 15 (which is also when voting ends), to explain the nominees in each category Today, we look at the nominees in the Best Song, Best Metal Act ... More >>

The 10 Best Music Videos Featuring Puppets

​On Saturday, the world celebrated the birthday of the late master of puppets and all-around creative genius Jim Henson. Henson modernized the age-old art of puppetry by using foam rubber to coat the puppets' limbs. Previously, most TV puppets were made of carved wood. But Henson believed that fo ... More >>

Maleveller Shines Despite Its Members Lack of Metal Backgrounds

Over the Weekend: Maleveller, Eagle Claw, The House Harkonnen at the Double Wide

Maleveller, Eagle Claw, The House Harkonnen Double Wide August 13, 2011 Better than: teaching your nephew how to play Mastodon songs. Dylan HollingsworthMaleveller​Last year, Maleveller could only play a certain amount of songs live. Because, well, they only had those songs to choose from. Durin ... More >>

Neither A Phoenix Project Nor Nu-Metal Band, Maleveller Ventures Into The Metal Unknown

Dylan HollingsworthMaleveller​ Heavy metal is a genre that is famously and often unintentionally self-parodying. Bands that are in on the joke, but that take their craft seriously, are rare. Local metal masters Maleveller seek to fill that void. Since their first show in 2009, they have careful ... More >>

Five Music Shows We Wish MTV Still Aired

​At the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards, Justin Timberlake got on the mic and pleaded with MTV to "play more videos!" Timberlake's sentiment was hardly a new one. The station switched from heavily playing music videos to being a reality TV-based network in the early 2000s -- shortly after the old for ... More >>

Giveaway: Two Pairs of Tickets to See Mastodon Singer Brent Hinds' Side Projects West End Motel and Fiend Without A Face

For a guy with an allegedly severe drinking and drug problem, Mastodon Singer Brent Hind sure is prolific. His biggest project is obviously Atlanta metal outfit Mastodon, but he also juggles a handful of side projects -- two of which will be at Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios tonight. As you can see ... More >>

Fun Fun Fun Fest: MGMT and Bad Religion Cap A Great Saturday

​Oh, the decisions. As was the case last year, Fun Fun Fun's Saturday schedule forced some hard choices; today's toughest might be Washed Out and Deerhunter's simultaneous sets, thought there are plenty of other conflicting sets. But one of the things that makes Fun Fun Fun great is that the three ... More >>

Giveaway: A Free Pair of Tickets To Fun Fun Fun Fest

​Back at the beginning of the month, we shared with you all the very impressive lineup for the fifth incarnation of Austin's Fun Fun Fun Fest, which is set to take place on November 6, 7 and 8 in Waterloo Park, down in that pretentious city about three and a half hours south of here.This year's ed ... More >>

High on Fire Preps For Metal Success

Maleveller

Astronomer's Fyre (EP Self-released)

Bonus MP3: Maleveller -- "Astronomer's Fyre"

Logo by Luke Harnden​Saturday night marks the EP release show for the very promising Dallas-based four-piece Maleveller. Playing the Double Wide alongside fellow heavy Dallas acts True Widow and Big Fiction--in a show brought to you by Parade of Flesh--this is a gig that we can pretty much a guara ... More >>

Year in Review: Heavy Metal's Best Albums of 2009 Take It Over the Top

This year was such a good one for heavy music, I wound up having to cheat when putting this list together. I just couldn't settle on ten albums that kicked my ass the hardest in 2009; there were dozens of candidates. The best I could do was fourteen, so each of my top four slots are ties. ​Mastod ... More >>

Dethklok, Mastodon, High on Fire

Wednesday, November 11,at House of Blues

Bonus MP3: Dead Earth Politics -- "Dos Cuerpos"

Hailing from Austin, Dead Earth Politics claims all of the cool metal influences: Iron Maiden, Lamb of God, Slayer, Mastodon, etc. And surprisingly, the quartet does incorporate most of them into its loud and dense onslaught. Lead vocalist Ven Scott was gracious enough to send over a track off the b ... More >>

The Melvins, Big Business

Thursday, October 18, at the Granada