Mastodon
Crack the Skye

Release Date: 2009 | Tracklist

Crack the Skye is a musically polished output and arguably the quartet’s most technically focused release to date. This is my first review and I will be targeting an audience of those who have knowledge of musical theory and knowledge of what music looks like, being able to only speak from this point of view. Please excuse the lack of common words like ‘heavy,’ or the lack of emphasis on brute force and more direction towards actual musical talent. With that bit of talking out of the way… ahem… While metal heads may have been impressed by Remission and Leviathan, trained musicians were probably more impressed with the ideas and harmonic theories explored in Blood Mountain. Crack the Skye adds more textures and experimental ideas for the band such as: incredible new vocal capabilities, inclusion of banjo, and some keyboard parts other than basic organic background. The spelling of Skye is an homage to Brann Dailor’s sister, who committed suicide as a teenager. For the very contemporary, bizarre concept of the ‘concept album’ go to wikipedia as I did not find it

The first two songs on the album are Oblivion and Divinations; I will review them together as they are rather similar in concept. Both contain some of the more up-tempo sections on the album. Where on previous albums verses would be filled with unchallenging, boring screams, Crack the Skye adds considerably more real singing and *gasp!* even vocal harmony. Mastodon seems to have developed even more in their effort to make angular arpeggios and fat groves for choruses, especially in the chorus to Oblivion. *Side note: Divinations was actually released as a single and has an extremely cheese factor cheese video involving a yeti with a guitar for all of you hardcore fans.

The Czar is the album’s next most obvious highlight, being the shorter of the release’s two epics. Beginning slowly with some atmospheric organic ideas, these lead to a bass-driven section clearly showing the band’s progressive rock influence and droning vocals. This leads eventually into a distorted guitar break with some stylistically tasteful drum fills. Brann, in my musical opinion, is a much more effective player when he simply keeps time and stays away from a drum fill every other measure. In this faster, distorted section, vocals make a noticeable change from droning to a classic rock vibe. More progressive yet are the vocal trade offs, showing more independence of vocal technique from the band. An acoustic passage follows this which is quickly altered to distorted guitar. Vocals and solo guitar make extremely rich and true trade offs here showing the obvious development from brainless fret board climbing that everyone knows appears on earlier Mastodon efforts. Overall a strong track; while not 2112 or Supper’s Ready, this is definitely a progressive nod and step in that direction.

Ghost of Karelia, along with Oblivion and Divinations, was premiered at Bonaroo and became bootlegged after the live appearance of these tracks on Youtube (another great side note for the hardcore fans anxiously awaiting album). Metallic percussion sounds open the track, afterwards complemented by atmospheric guitar in interesting meter changes. Afterwards the style changes to the more riff-oriented guitar style a common listener appreciates. Vocal lines are interesting, particularly the downward chromatic-esque triplet idea. Moods ranging from melancholy to tense and brutal are found through the piece.

Closing the album is the long epic, The Last Baron, and it is my personal favorite of the record. Acoustic guitar patterns, thick bass, and great vocal ideas line the down tempo beginning of the epic. Trade offs and harmonies as well as multiple part independence make the vocal effort on the album incredibly superior to its predecessors. While usually I am not an avid vocal critic, I had to be for this album because of the immense contrast of this effort to earlier Mastodon albums. Echoing guitar breaks the first section and begins what will ultimately become an up tempo segment. Great harmonic guitar ideas and even great ideas from critically acclaimed Brann Dailor. Maturity of the three guitar players is shown from the difference in their parts versus albums such as Remission. One of the best parts of the epic, especially for theorists who understand what is happening, is the angular unison between guitar and drums. Very dense, powerful sections follow; featuring mostly Brent on vocals for those sections, a very edgy, metal feel is achieved rather well. An interesting groove section makes an appearance eventually and has great potential ideas. This leads into a recapitulation of one of the previous up tempo thematic ideas. The last several minutes of the piece are based on the material of the beginning. The Last Baron ends with great guitar solo leads and firm rhythmic pulse from the rest of the group.

As a whole Crack the Skye was a great output of sound from the quartet and showed tremendous musicianship throughout. As for the generic ‘recommended tracks’ section, I would recommend Oblivion and Divinations for the casual listener, The Czar and Ghost of Karelia for the casual Mastodon fan, and The Last Baron for progressive rock or theory lovers. The album in its entirety is very cohesive and is a balanced record based on a few quality pieces instead of forty, two-minute radio songs. This is possibly the Mastodon album that will be the easiest to appreciate for those unfamiliar with the style of metal Mastodon typically plays in. Try to be lax or at least constructive with criticism as this is my first review.

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4.1 excellent

Rank: #73 for 2009