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It’s funny how I used to crank up the treble on my stereo when I was a kid. C’mon, you know you did it too. It hurts my ears to listen to music like that now. Besides, there’s so much more going on in the lower frequencies of rock. I was thinking about this while listening to Mastermind. It has a big, fat bass sound that stands out on nearly every track, rivaling the guitars for dominance and giving the album coherence. Maybe they rely a little too much on the familiar (but still awesome) stoner rock chord patterns, but as a whole it’s a solid effort with good songs.
New Monster Magnet records have always been few and far between, so I’m glad to see resident mastermind Dave Wyndorf is back at it again. Their previous effort was a scattershot affair, understandable as Wyndorf OD’d and went through rehab in the middle of recording it. This one has all the qualities I’ve missed since they’ve been gone: comic book sensibilities, the flaming Bull God and sludgy, hard rock riffage played with pride and abandon by the great Ed Mundell. I was sorry to hear that he left the band (amicably) after recording this record.
Unlike most hard rock bands, Monster Magnet’s obligatory power ballad is usually one of the strongest songs on the album, and Mastermind is no exception with two: “Time Machine” and “The Titan Who Cried Like A Baby”. Other standout tracks include the punky “100 Million Miles” and the anthemic “Dig That Hole”, about Wyndorf’s struggle with pills.
