At the House of Blues Thursday night - even with a backdrop of unsettling videos of delusional women staring into the unknown and medieval warriors in battle - it was difficult to follow the new album's plot. Worse, a muddy sound mix kept the vocals completely buried for most of the performance, to the point where the voices often sounded like they were being played backward.
Not that you needed to hear the words. The musicianship was the star attraction, and it was a marvel to watch the four men weave in and out of the music. Whether the songs were breakneck fast or hulking and ambient, the members were precisely attuned to what was going on around them.
Lead guitarist Brent Hinds and bassist Troy Sanders, in particular, shared an intense chemistry on lead vocals. With Hinds's pinched yelps pitted against Sanders's wide-open bray, they harmonized and switched off seamlessly.
Tucked away on his kit, drummer Brann Dailor was nonetheless impressive for his tenacity; it was nothing for him to kick into double bass drum for three minutes and sing at the same time. Rhythm guitarist Bill Kelliher had the least flashy presence, yet he locked in succinctly with Hinds for a twin guitar assault.
Mastodon played "Crack the Syke" in its entirety, keeping it tight and contained, as if each song depended on the previous one. Then the Atlanta-based group went in reverse, cherry-picking selections ("Colony of Birchmen," "Seabeast," "March of the Fire Ants") from each of its other records.
Free of the constraints of playing a concept album from start to stop, the show suddenly cracked open into stretches of thrashing speed metal where czars and Rasputin weren't needed.
James Reed can be reached at jreed@globe.com.
