Single Slam – Show Yourself by Mastodon (Emperor of Sand)

Mastodon have released a second single called Show Yourself. It follows hot on the heels of a first single, called Sultan’s Curse. Both tracks make up track 1 and 2 on Mastodon’s soon to be released album, Emperor of Sand. The new album is due to be released on the 31st of March via Reprise Records.  Emperor of Sand will be Mastodon’s 7th studio album and follows on from 2014’s Once More ‘Round the Sun.

The first track released, Sultan’s Curse was a good song. It was a little uninspiring and safe, but still a good song. You can read our thoughts on it here.

Show Yourself is quite a short song at just over 3 minutes long. It doesn’t mess about in getting into the point, jumping in at a quick pace right from the off. It has a grungy feel to it’s main riff with it’s low tones and steady drumming. Brann Dailor is the main vocalist this time round with backing coming from Troy and Brett. Dailor, who also looks after the drums for Mastadon, sings in a cleaner, higher tone than maybe the other guys do. The result of that voice over a quick but simple riff and drum beat is one that has the feel of a much lighter rock song.

The choruses switch up the tone though with some nice little drum sections and Troy taking the lead on vocals. The second choruses leads into a pretty cool instrumental section with a short solo over crashes of drums, while the recurring riff remains there in the background. The instrumental section leads straight back into one final verse until the song stops suddenly as the verse ends.

Dailor had the following to say about the new single – “When I first heard that riff, I wasn’t 100 percent on it. I felt like it was too easy to like or something – which is stupid, but I want to avoid ‘easy.’ I was wrong about that one.”

For me, maybe he was right and it was too easy. Much like Sultan’s Curse, Show Yourself is a perfectly good song. It’s a very easy to listen to song that will probably get a fair amount of radio play. It just feels a little uninspired and predictable. Maybe it is because they have set the bar so high, they are struggling to live up to it? I don’t know. Maybe it will all just make a lot more sense when listened to as part of the whole album, which is a concept album? Whatever it is, both songs so far have been enjoyable enough while not being particularly memorable.

Show Yourself is a good song. It has a nice pace to it and is catchy too. It is also, however, the sort of song that will be played a few times and then forgotten about, by me at least. Maybe I am expecting too much but both singles so far feel a little boring. Perfectly decent tracks with nothing really to complain about in them but they just don’t leave my feeling like, wow, that’s a good song! More of a, well, that was okay, now what other music is out. I don’t want to be too harsh on them as there really isn’t a lot wrong with the tracks, they just haven’t made that big an impression.

Still, they may on you so check out Show Yourself here and see what you think. If you like it, why not preorder it from Mastodon’s official website? Be sure to give the band a Like or Follow over on Facebook or Twitter too.