IT SEEMS LIKE THERE ARE METAPHORS ABOUT CANCER THROUGHOUT THE ALBUM. He escapes into the desert to find some kind of sanctuary, but he gets lost and walks through this vast desert for days, and the sun is absolutely crushing him. I tied the sun into radiation. In the story, the protagonist gets handed down a death sentence from a diabolical sultan. And no one knows how much time they've got left. When the sand in the hourglass is gone, your life is over. Video of Mastodon - Sultan' s Curse īRANN DAILOR The Emperor of Sand is kind of like the Grim Reaper. "It's proggy and psychedelic, but super heavy at the same time," Dailor says. In the end, they created a galvanic and musically adventurous concept album that's reminiscent of their 2009 prog-metal epic Crack the Skye, but colored with more of the melodic straight- ahead rock elements of their last two releases, 2011's The Hunter and 2014's Once More 'Round the Sun. With production by Brendan O'Brien (who also worked on Crack the Skye), Emperor of Sand is dark, fiery, experimental, and cathartic. The sadness, anger and periodic disruptions could have been disastrous to the band's creativity, but the musicians were able to use their music as a coping mechanism, an escape valve from their daily medical-related frustrations. Dailor's mom has been undergoing chemotherapy for a while, guitarist Bill Kelliher's mom died of a brain tumor while the band was making the record and bassist/vocalist Troy Sanders had to miss early writing sessions while his wife received treatment for breast cancer (she seems to be recovering well). Three out of the four members of Mastodon were directly affected by the disease while making Emperor of Sand. Sadly, it's a vivid illustration of art imitating life.
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