Mastodon @ Barrowlands, 19 Feb

Packing an abridged recital of the set they played at the ABC last summer – even if they are on stage for nigh on 90 minutes – Atlantan sludge behemoths Mastodon return to give Crack the Skye to Glasgow within the more homely environs of the Barrowlands.

Though a gruelling tour schedule is surely to blame for rendering tonight’s full album performance workmanlike (Troy Sanders seems to be the only guy with any puff left), the accompanying visual montage of bearded Tsarists and eerie Russian period pieces has since evolved into something which holds its own interest and more accurately fits the ambition of the prog-metal opus’s astral-travelling narrative (in lieu of the full-blown feature film they’d hoped Warner might finance).

Come the encore, the remaining three are finally up on par with Sanders for an all-too-brief pick’n’mix exploration of a catalogue with expansive range and dynamism; Brent Hinds jolts awake from his haze and Brann Dailor stands up to give it a little more Lars during the thunderous, bowel-loosening segue of Iron Tusk and March of the Fire Ants. Crack the Skye was a trip, but Mastodon might want to start drip-feeding it to the crowd if they mean to kick our ass all night long. [Bob Morton]