Cold Dark Place

The new Mastodon EP is an eclectic, psychedelic journey that sees guitarist/vocalist Brent Hinds picking up a Sho-Bud 13-string pedal steel guitar. His mastery of the instrument is quickly clear.

Far from a stopgap EP, Cold Dark Place is in itself another sprawling work that Mastodon have ploughed serious thought into.

2017's ambitious full-length Emperor of Sand saw the progressive/sludge metal veterans delivering a heavy-hearted concept album about grief, and while Cold Dark Place's title would suggest an extension of that narrative, it's more of a loosely knit addendum that illuminates the latter outings' soul-searching proclivities by proxy.

Photo: Jimmy Hubbard (Warner.