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Music

Mastodon Get Philosophical, Still Kick Ass on New Astral Jam "Andromeda"

Why didn't they call it "Trappist-1" though?

Prog metal and space have a long, storied history together. Voivod may have been the first to make the connection between jazz-fusion inspired riffing and the galaxies with their classic 80s albums, while simultaneously Joe Satriani chilled with the Silver Surfer and made the Marvel villain unable to star in any good movies from then on. Luckily for everyone, Mastodon are the latest to take up the mantle of astrono-metal on "Andromeda," a new song from Emperor of Sand.

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With a dissonant opening riff and ricochet drumming serving as an unstable bed, the band gets extremely abstract as they ponder the meaning of time and life ("It kills me to know / we cannot learn" goes the chorus). While these questions are a big part of the song's parent album, perhaps the answer lies in being as good at your instruments as Mastodon are so that you can propel yourself out of the atmosphere. Listen to "Andromeda" below.

Phil still gets jazzed about NASA news. He's on Twitter.