Mastedon is the name of a Christian rock band formed by brothers Dino and John Elefante (former members and songwriters of Kansas) in the mid-80s. The band was formed mainly as a studio project and released two full-length albums and two stand-alone songs on compilation albums.
from me: I’ve been a huge fan of Mastedon since 1989. Being a young Christian metalhead, I stumbled upon this band with awe and reverence. I was at their one and only concert at Cornerstone ‘91!
The Elefante brothers were the founders of Pakaderm Records which released some great Christian metal albums. X-Sinner and Guardian got their start on this label. Mastedon also released their second record, Lofcaudio, through Pakaderm. I’ll give you a minute to find the connecting dots of the names…Elefante brothers, Pakaderm Records, Mastedon…
Mastedon has always been head and shoulders above other Christian metal bands. All the other bands had their secular counterparts: Whitecross was the Christian Ratt, Barren Cross was the Christian Iron Maiden, X-Sinner was the Christian AC/DC. Mastedon had their own sound and their music was better than any other melodic metal band, secular or Christian.
After 19 long years, Mastedon has released some new tunes, and they have only gotten better. 3 is destined to become a classic, must-have for any melodic rock collector.
I have audio samples from each song from the new album below. If you love what you hear, and want Mastedon’s back catalog, you can but it from . iTunes is much cheaper than Amazon.com. They do not have the mp3 downloads.
I have give a big shout out to Bravewords.com, as they were crucial in my finding out about the new Mastedon album. They are a wealth of information for the avid music fan!
Skillet’s new album, Awake, was released today. It is their first record of new material since 2006’s Comatose(links go to the Amazon.com MP3 store)
Comatose is definitely in my top 20 albums of all times. So it was with great anticipation that I waited for Awake. Here are my initial thoughts: Awake is a good album with some very awesome songs on it. Along with those spectacular songs sit some very boring songs (read “ballads”)
01 Hero Hero starts us off on a rocking pace. It is a song full of energy and conviction that makes you pump your fist in the air.
02 Monster Monster is the second track and it picks right up where Hero left off. This is possibly the heaviest song on the album (and the best IMHO). This should be the title track of the new Wolf Man movie that is soon to be released!
03 Don't Wake Me Up Don’t Wake Me Up is a sleeper of a song (sorry, bad stretch for a pun). I’m hoping this song grows on me, but I find myself reaching for the next button on my iPod whilst listening.
04 Awake And Alive Awake and Alive is quite the opposite of the previous song. The strings at the opening of the song are reminiscent of Rebirthing from Comatose. I like the dual vocal duty of the male and female singers. (I know the lead singer’s name is Jon Cooper, but I have to admit I don’t know who the girl is.)
05 One Day Too Late
Yawn…another mediocre ballad. One Day Too Late doesn’t capture my imagination or my ear. Just like Don’t Wake Me Up, I find myself reaching to the iPod to skip this song. I hope I grow to love these songs, I really do.
06 It's Not Me It's You
Ah, there we go. The Skillet we know and love. It’s Not Me It’s You is another rocker almost on par with Monster and Hero. The chorus is quite catchy. This song is quite angry…I’m glad a Christian band can make a song that isn’t all rainbows and sunshine.
07 Should've When You Could've
Crap…really? Another slower tempo song? Should’ve When You Could’ve breaks the rocker feel that It’s Not Me It’s You set. I think this is what ultimately wrong with Awake. You can never get into that rocker groove, as it keeps getting interupted with sub-par ballad type songs.
08 Believe
And the sub-standard ballady crappy songs continue. Believe is the 8th song of the record and honestly, it’s at this point I’m about to turn of the album and listen to something else.
09 Forgiven
What’s this? Piano? This makes three non rocker songs in a row. Forgiven’s lyrics are great, but enough with the bad 90’s power ballads already.
10 Sometimes Sometimes finally brings the rock back to the album. This song could be a sequel to It’s Not Me It’s You, with the angry guitar work and the the very angry lyrics. ”Sometimes I don’t wanna be better, Sometimes I can’t be put back together, Sometimes I find it hard to believe there’s someone else who could be….just as pissed of as me.” Very strong and honest words. I hope Skillet doesn’t get any grief for this song. Sometimes is the type of song I wish the entire album was made of.
11 Never Surrender
And yet another slower song. Never Surrender is better than the other slow songs on this record. The structure of the song and Cooper’s vocals make me want to keep listening.
12 Lucy
Cue piano…@#$%$%! another ballad! I know my attitude towards this song should be different as it is about someone who has died. I could possibly like it if it wasn’t the umpteenth slow song on the album.
The Deluxe Version of the Awake includes two bonus tracks (of which I forgot to upload to my server, so no audio is available). Dead Inside is another rocker (yay!) that is pretty good. Would It Matter is, you guessed it, another freakin’ ballad. Monster (Alternate Radio Version) finishes off the album.
All in all, I’d give this album 6.5 out of 10 stars. The good rock songs are great, while the majority of the album is made up of ballads that I just don’t want to listen to. If you are new to Skillet, I would buy Comatose and Collide and then Awake.
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. iTunes is much cheaper than Amazon.com. They do not have the mp3 downloads.
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