Leviathan

The riff that opens "Blood and Thunder" was written by drummer Brann Dailor, who barely knew his way around a guitar at the time. Mastodon refined the songs in front of audiences on a tour supporting Clutch, then stepped off the bus and went straight into the studio with producer Matt Bayles. Scott Kelly of Neurosis sings on "Aqua Dementia", which takes up what the cabin boy Pip goes through. "Hearts Alive" runs 13:39; the next longest track on the record is 4:22. "Blood and Thunder" followed as a single in 2005, and turned up that year in the films The Cave and Alone in the Dark, and in the video game Need for Speed: Most Wanted.