Atlanta progressive metal titans Mastodon dropped an ode to their hometown with help from Butthole Surfers frontman Gibby Haynes this week. Check out the maniacally twisted new track here.
Mastodon takes no prisoners, and their new song lives up to that reputation. “Atlanta” doesn’t sound much like the band’s previous tunes, but it shares their brutal, crunching guitar riffs.
The track is part of the Adult Swim singles program lineup. Every Monday of the summer, the late night cartoon channel releases a brand new song from bands on the list that their fans can download for free on the Adult Swim website.
The band is known for creating dirgy, stoner rock anthems, but you might not know it listening to this new song. “Atlanta” sounds more like Butthole Surfers’ brand of pepped-up prog punk, but played through the speakers of the devil himself.
As if setting the scene for a movie trailer about a man who comes across a crashed UFO site, “Atlanta” begins with a narration from a deep, dark male voice. The narrator rumbles “There are those who are born to be winners, and then, there are these guys.” Guitars scream through the silence with blistering riffs and a barrage of kick drum. The song comes for you like a bat out of hell and probably sounds like one, too.
The vocals are aggressive and relentless, broken up only by the squeal of a fuzzy, deranged studio effect track. Toward the middle of “Atlanta,” singer Gibby Haynes sinks his teeth into his verse of the song and gnashes out his signature spoken word. Piping in through a thick vocal effect that makes his voice sound like it’s moving through a tube of fuzz, Haynes spills out a spastic set of southern-inspired lyrics from his lips. Born and raised in Dallas, Haynes’ Texas drawl drips all over this Mastodon track.
It’s what you might imagine playing on the stereo of a supped-up pickup truck that’s tearing through the highway of a Texas desert, with a guy on acid at the helm. In other words, entertaining, but also terrifying.
Although Haynes clearly has his fingers all over “Atlanta,” Mastodon fans will easily pick up on the band’s famous wall-of-sound guitar tone. It’s a collaboration that works to all of the musicians’ strengths, featuring only their most iconic characteristics.
“Atlanta” will be free to download from Adult Swim starting September 8, 2014.
That’s not all these sludge masters are up to these days. Mastodon is also heading out for a US tour this fall. Fans might even have a new mind-melting record to look forward to soon.
Gibby Haynes collaborated with Jack White on a song in 2013, and seems to be sticking mainly to collaborations and one-off side projects lately.
Take a listen to his new collaboration with Mastodon down below:
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