Mastodon - Live At The Aragon

If Mastodon isn’t the best live American band in existence today, they are certainly within the top five. All of that praise is based on the stunning command they display in a live setting. Their exact precision is a sight to behold, with the key word being “sight” as the band has not released a live record until now.

Live At The Aragon is the band’s first official release, recorded in the same city that I saw them in (different time and venue, though) after they kicked off the tour supporting Crack The Skye by playing the record in its entirety.

The performance I witnessed was in the smaller Metro venue from the first trek of the tour. By the time they returned to Chicago, the band was well worn from the rigors of the road, while still dizzyingly tight and stoically professional.

To document this, the band set up shop in the Aragon ballroom, a rustic room with a penchant for a few shoves and maybe a fist or two-but the band is too quick and well-winded to let any mouthbreather suck the air out of their nitrogen-rich environment.

I have no idea what that even means, but I can tell you that Mastodon has the ability in a live setting to wear a man down, particularly if they don’t pace themselves early on to take advantage of the bands two-hour long set of full-throttle heavy metal.

Because Live At The Aragon documents the Crack The Skye tour, you get another performance of the album and a handful of other tracks at the end of the performance. This date includes a wonderful version of The Melvins’ “The Bit,” while being woefully short on other favorites, some of which prevent the album from being both a “must have” and “vital document.”

It is a good one, nonetheless, with added points for the dvd of the performance. This is really where you should start with as it provides visual proof of how these guys not only created the sonic wonderment that is Crack The Skye, but they were able to recreate it without tricks or slight of hand.

The dvd also contains the visuals that played behind the band during the Crack The Skye set which, as those who attended the shows, is really not much of a draw here.

With that being said, the dvd is the draw here, for without it, Live At The Aragon’s mirrors the original studio release so much that it would be irrelevant.

Still, if anyone needed evidence of the band’s live prowess or would like an audio witness to how good this band is at this moment, Live At The Aragon is a nice bit of recorded evidence.