Smile Politely previews tonight's Mastodon set on the Volcom Tour 2010 at the Canopy Club in Urbana, IL

"Atlanta's Mastodon is easily the most critically acclaimed metal band of the last decade. They are the metal band that punk rockers, stuffy Brooklynites and modern hippies are all allowed to unabashedly love. With each subsequent album they release, they keep attracting a wider audience, selling almost 500,000 copies of their most recent album (a huge number in the downloading era). But why them? What does Mastodon have that thousands of other heavy metal bands don't? The quick answer is that they seem to have the perfect mix of musical ambition and ability to rock, but the long answer is much more complicated." read the entire article on smilepolitely.com