After the wondrous 'aggressive progressive' sound of the 'Leviathan' and 'Blood Mountain' albums succeeded in putting Mastodon firmly on the rock map, 2009's 'Crack The Skye' was at first for me a bit of a shock to the system. The trademark Mastodon sound was still there, and there were a couple of 10 minute plus progressive epics in 'The Czar' and 'The Last Baron', but the move to a more conventional vocal style took a bit of getting used to as the band clearly had made an attempt to broaden their appeal and move in a more 'accessible', if not necessarily 'commercial', direction.

'The Hunter' then sees the band continue in that same direction, but this time around, the lengthy epics have all been despatched too, so we get 13 more concise, honed in, quality tracks to feast upon. They've pushed a few more boundaries with this album, but it's still unmistakeably Mastodon. The vocals also sounding more assured and I've got to say I think this one has easily surpassed 'Crack the Skye', even after just a few spins.

The huge sounding opener 'Black Tongue' is a total belter, with a monumental guitar hook and immense guitar harmonies, as good as Mastodon has sounded. 'Curl Of The Burl' does have a more commercial edge to it and is actually reminiscent of Queens Of The Stone Age in places, especially in the chorus. 'Blasteroid' is a fine up tempo rocker more reminiscent of the band's earlier material, with its screeching chorus and speedy technical riffing, whereas 'The Octopus Has No Friends', with some subtle electronic effects on the vocals, has a slight feel of Rush to it, especially in the guitar department.

Title track 'The Hunter' is perhaps the biggest departure for Mastodon so far. It's a gentler, dreamy, trippy affair with a psychedelic vibe to it, almost borrowing from the Beatles with the line 'the love I take is equal to the love I make'. Less aggressive but still progressive, it features a pretty stunning guitar solo and is a real gem, as is the closing track on the album, 'The Sparrow', which follows a very similar path.

Elsewhere, 'The Creature Lives' is a wonderful slice of epic sounding heavy psychedelia, the brutal 'Spectrelight' is probably closer to the band's earlier material than anything else on the album and 'The Thickening' and 'Bedazzled Fingernails' provide that inventive technical progressive vibe in true Mastodon tradition.

Never a band to stand still, with this album Mastodon have progressed, matured and explored new territories whilst still retaining that classic Mastodon sound. The result is a gem of an album. Masterful.

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