No self-respecting Peacedogman-ite can argue the fact that MASTODON is the fucking shit. And it shouldn't be a surprise to any of you that, sooner or later, we're going to have a swarm of bands landing on our shores striving to be carbon copies of the Atlanta quartet. That's why upon my initial listen of "A Grey Sigh in a Flower Husk", a split from bands BARONESS and UNPERSONS, alarms were going off in my head screaming "MASTODON wannabes! Kill it with fire!" After doing a bit of research though, there's enough evidence on the contrary… just not enough to for these two bands to escape from MASTODON's shadow.

Let's present the case in favor of these two bands. Exhibit A: Both BARONESS and UNPERSONS come from the same state as MASTODON - Savannah, GA to be exact, on the eastern border of the state. Exhibit B: UNPERSONS formed in 1997, two years before MASTODON. And the evidence against them? Basically, if you've heard the work of MASTODON so far, you've heard this too: same crazy song structures, same guitar tone, roughly the same vocal delivery (the guy from UNPERSONS is considerably more annoying than Troy Sanders), same tuning… even the cover art style is unmistakably similar. The only real deviation is courtesy of BARONESS' second track, "Cavite", which is a lengthy one with a droning EARTH sort of style. The other major difference, of course, is the drumming… but then again, there's only one Brann Dailor. Everything else, though, sounds a bit too familiar.

True, this could just be a really strong coincidence here, such as what happened with the costumed mallcore fiasco a few years ago involving SLIPKNOT, MUDVAYNE and MUSHROOMHEAD. But regardless of whether they're coattail riders or not, surely both BARONESS and UNPERSONS realize that the striking similarity is there, and they'd both be well advised to make bigger strides to establish their own identities. In the meantime, a few MASTODON fans who are too impatient to wait for the follow-up to "Blood Mountain" may find this appealing, but chances are they'll be bored with it instead.

- Cardona

OFFICIAL SITE: myspace.com/yourbaroness, myspace.com/unpersons

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