I'll pile on the "mainstream metal" thing: Mastodon is a heavy metal band. Whether they are good or bad depends on an individual's opinion, and how many people like them has (or should have) nothing to do with it. That said, I think they've been in an accelerating tailspin that first started with Blood Mountain. …

I got the Mitochondrion UMD recommended earlier today. It's a beast.

Seconded. Heller, I feel like I should thank you for giving us a space to gab; this column is getting better by the month.

UMD, I'll take your word for it.

God damn you for taking last month off, UMD, but it's good to have you back.

What I'm hearing here is that he's basically the Tea Party of film critics, except maybe right a little more often and maybe slightly less violent, though still teeming with racism

You could actually fool me into thinking the instrumental track was Flipper and some joker pretending to be a drunk redneck tracked a bunch of nonsense over the top of it.

Yes. I have listened to it exactly 39 times since I got it, according to iTunes. I have no reason to believe iTunes, would lie to me, so if repeat listens is the way to judge whether an album sticks with me, I think it's safe to say that this one is around for a while.

I'll take this opportunity to pimp the Triptykon record. Consider it pimped.

That's fine, but is seeing them a categorical or hypothetical imperative?