MASTODON – CALL OF THE MASTODON – RELAPSE  
Hit the snooze button for the cash-in mark; here comes another Relapse Records release designed to bilk milk money out of the wary customer. Call Of The Mastodon is not a new album by the band. The disc is a compilation of the recordings of a band that is no longer with Relapse and culled from singles and the Lifesblood EP.
Problem number one: labels scavenging every nook and cranny to field material by a band lost to another label.
Problem number two: This early material was released elsewhere years ago. If anyone really wants them (ah, the clamour of the masses ransacking entire urban centres in search of this material!) they could probably source them.
Music-wise, even this early material shows Mastodon as a band not content with straightforward compositions and bound to as many time changes and jazzed up metal twists and turns as possible. The couple of vocals, weak as they are, bark on top of one another as the band appeals to the whacked and the wanna-be. At least, these have been reworked for a semblance of value. The only thing worse then a title like We Built This Come Death is the silly whining that passes as vocals on the track which, in turn, beats this blatant bile of burglary. – Ali “The Metallian”