Mastodon – Leviathan

Mastodon’s 2004 album Leviathan established the band as a force in progressive metal, offering a concept loosely based on Herman Melville’s Moby‑Dick. It blends sludge, Southern rock, and thrash with narrative ambition, showcasing uncanny technical precision and thematic cohesion as the band crafts a powerful, immersive listening experience.

Critics recognized Leviathan as a breakthrough, citing its frenetic rhythms, dense songwriting, and atmospheric shifts that evoke the novel’s bleak oceanic mythos. It earned album-of-the-year honors from outlets like Kerrang! and Terrorizer, and helped Mastodon gain widespread acclaim and a growing fanbase.

Three magazines awarded the album Album of the Year in 2004: Revolver, Kerrang! and Terrorizer. In 2009 and 2015 MetalSucks named Leviathan the best metal album of the 21st century.

Reviews

"Inevitably, Mastodon find their niche as a thinking man’s metal band. Blending Voivod’s neuro‑thrash, Therion’s majestic gloom, Morbid Angel’s spirit of restless and morphing liquid black melody, and EyeHateGod’s Southern rock gone awry, Leviathan is nothing short of supernatural" – Pitchfork. 

"This is why Mastodon are so important. Their music pulses with passion, with soul. And, ostensibly, this is the raging spirit of Leviathan, savage ruler of the seas, cruising through murky oceanic depths with an exhilarating, teeth‑rattling prowess … Mastodon’s true abilities shine" – Drowned in Sound. 

"Leviathan, Mastodon’s second full length album catches the band at a perfect balance between creativity and down‑right rocking awesomeness" – Progarchives.