I agree with you to an extent. The fact that they write more individually now definitely is noticeable in their music, but, in particular with emperor of sand and obviously it is just my opinion and personal taste, there are songs on that album (Jaguar God for example) that really do have that full sound. Also if you look at all of the making of features on the DVDs with the earlier albums, they did write individually on some songs on those albums too. I don't think them writing away from the band is what has changed with Mastodon, I think it is just the fact that they are no longer young and angry, touring in a van, struggling to survive as a band.

Andrew O'Hare jaguar god is my favorite song on that album. But even with that it’s a brann and Brent song if you watch the emperor of sand documentary. Brent wrote the music brann wrote the lyrics and helped compose the structure. I remember reading a beat about how they used to write was bill and Brent would chill and write the don stuff on acoustics. The writing was more locked in obviously. The first trilogy blows anything they’ve wrote since out of the water. There’s songs that seem to have everyone together and they are always the strongest on the albums. But everything now doesn’t have that fluidity they used to have. It sucks. I found those first three albums and basically found my love for music again. Made me start playing again. Now that they seemed to have separated mentally as a band they’re not making groundbreaking stuff anymore. It’s still great music. Just not what they used to put out. Who cares about my opinion though. It’s just opinion. Some people think the new stuff is better. I respectfully disagree with that but people are entitled to opinion. I wish mastodon was mastodon again.

Andrew O'Hare and I disagree with the the whole grown up thing. Mastodons stuff after remission is incredibly mature music. You don’t write complex music like that and not go overboard without some maturity. I don’t think because the band have stripped back and started composing material that’s more in the norm of what other big rock bands write means they’re more mature. I’ll say straight up remission is more of a immature album. That’s an angry album. The guitars are angry and the music is abrasive. Leviathan, blood mountain, and especially crack the skye are more artistic and layered than remission. They are mature progressive albums. The hunter, omrts, and even eos are more in line of what every big rock band writes. Big riffs, big choruses, big harmonies, and simple song structures. Mastodon basically just rises above them because of raw talent. But they’re now basically just one of those bands. Post remission pre the hunter mastodon is some of the most exciting music to come out in the last few decades. Metallica came out with master of puppets and it shook the world. Leviathan did the same thing. I don’t think the band really grasps that, or they do and they don’t care. They’re famous now. Fame changes people. It changes dynamics in bands. It’s changed mastodon.

In the 16 years I have been following this band and consuming every bit of media related to them, they have shown quite openly that they aren't nor have they ever been a true/complete write together band. Every album has had joint efforts and individual efforts, one of my favourite songs off my favourite album wasn't even originally a Mastodon song (Pendulous Skin) and I consider it to be one of the most beautiful things ever written. Now I am not saying that they have NEVER collaborated on writing songs, just that they have exhibited the ability to write separately and still produce an amazing and cohesive record. I didn't say mature, I didn't say grown up, I said young and angry. You can be mature, young and angry at the same time. Young and angry is basically a direct quote from Mastodon about the remission/leviathan era stuff. I wasn't inferring to immaturity, I was talking about how the success that they have achieved and the time that has passed no longer made them angry about struggling, and that they are no longer young musicians (they are pushing 50) They don't have the anger or energy to write aggressive stuff like they used to, instead relying on pulling from the hardships and struggles that come with getting older and having to be away from family and stuff like that. I agree, fame does changed people, it can change dynamics within bands, and obviously what I have just said basically equates to it has changed Mastodon, but I am not saying that as a negative necessarily. I just don't expect them to put out another Remission or Blood Mountain (as much as I would LOVE another BM type record) and I am not interested in comparing each record with what preceded it as that is a recipe for disappointment because lets be honest, to top albums like Remission, Leviathan, BM and CTS is near impossible. My main point was that it isn't them writing away from each other that has changed, it is just time. Time is the great destroyer and soon it will claim Mastodon too. I am honestly just proud that a band like Mastodon has grown so much in terms of reach and sound and we are starting to see their influence in a whole slew of upcoming bands which is amazing because when I started listening to them I never imagined they would reach the heights they have. In saying all this, none of this makes me right. None of what you said makes you right. Only they know the truth and inner workings of themselves and Mastodon as a band. I just feel like some fans need to give them a little bit of a break, they have provided us with YEARS of stellar entertainment, and that quality of music comes with the negative effects of people being somewhat unfairly critical of their later output. Will I always choose BM over the hunter and OMRTS, yes, but I don't think they deserve to have people say their is a fissure in the band when a) they wouldn't be going this strong if there was and b) we can't know for sure. I will take Mastodon taking chances and changing their sound over a band that releases the same album year in, year out. No questions.

Also none of this is me trying to have a youtube bitch fit or start a comment section argument. I could just talk about Mastodon for days on end and I reckon that real devoted Mastodon fans should be of the mindset that even an average Mastodon album is probably still a fucking rocker of a record. Talk about them changing, thats fine, but I just don't think it is fair to claim there is a fissure in the band.