Mastodon is definitely my favorite of the year so far. Hushed & Grim is fantastic. I've had time to really digest all of it, and I also saw them live in Nashville last week (so good - much better than I expected them to be live), and they played a lot of the new stuff. I still currently like the Emperor of Sand album better, but with H&G being a double album, there is so much to take in. Your tastes are probably a little heavier, but I would encourage you to check it out. Maybe just start with the first half though and let it sink in. Then if you like, move on to the back half. My favorite tracks are Pain With an Anchor, The Crux, Teardrinker, and The Beast, which are all in the first half, BTW.
Ed, I feel like a lot of people feel the way you do. Maybe because there's so much going on with them - three different guys singing (many times in the same song), weird progressive stuff, at least one member that's crazy, and may actually be stoned like all the time, etc. I don't know. I do know I love a lot of what they come up with! And Emperor of Sand is one of my top 5 favorite albums.