Images: Mastodon, Gojira May 3, 2014 at House of Blues

In support of their upcoming record Once More ‘Round The Sun, the mighty Mastodon returned to the House of Blues Las Vegas on May 3. I didn’t know what to expect for this stop – maybe we’d be treated to some new face-melting material? Or would the set be made up mostly of stuff from 2011’s The Hunter?

Both of my assumptions proved mostly wrong as we were actually in for an evening of deep cuts, jamming and soloing. They opened with an abridged version of “Hearts Alive” and I was stoked to hear the epic, which originally appears in all of its 14 minute glory on the band’s 2005 opus Leviathan, but they halted the song about 5 minutes in in order to squeeze an extra couple songs into the setlist. They quickly rolled right into “Divinations” from 2009’s Crack the Skye and then got a huge reaction from the brutal “Crusher Destroyer,” a track that turned a lot of people onto the band in the first place due to its inclusion in the Tony Hawk’s Underground game.

These guys are always doing something new on stage, which makes them one of my very favorite live bands to catch. The setlist was heavier on their third full-length Blood Mountain, than the last few times I saw them and since it’s my favorite Mastodon release I was pretty much in heaven. New song “Chimes at Midnight” made the cut and it was so good I contemplated putting myself in a cryogenic freezer just so I could be woken up when the record comes out in June!

Opening up was Gojira, a French metal band who I also had the pleasure of seeing with Slayer at The Joint last year (those dudes are pretty lucky on tourmates!). They sound huge, and that’s mainly due to their drummer. He’s super technical and mathy, and really plays into the guitar hooks. I liked this go around a lot more than last time. Their stage presence has improved dramatically and they show a real love with playing to the crowd. They’ve got a breakdown in every song and some highlights of the night included “L’enfant Sauvage (The Wild Child),” “Explosia” and “Backbone.” They were a perfect fit to open for Mastodon and suceeded in getting the crowd pumped for the headliners.

-Tyler Newton | http://500px.com/spottedlens

Mastodon setlist:

Hearts Alive
Divinations
Crusher Destroyer
Capillarian Crest
Black Tongue
Bladecatcher
Crystal Skull
Siberian Divide
Naked Burn
Megalodon
Oblivion
Blasteroid
The Hunter
Chimes at Midnight
High Road
Aqua Dementia
The Sparrow