Mastodon - Crack the Skye

Early Mastodon albums gave listeners the sense that this band would do great things. Crack The Skye is the album where Mastodon trade potential for results. Mastodon has always been an ambitious band, but this album shows that they may also be the most important band in modern American Heavy Metal.  Uniquely weird and intelligent there is a cohesiveness and depth found on this album that is lacking in modern metal.  The songs don’t just build on top of each other as the album plays; they also build upon the bands previous albums as well. Don’t believe me, place Crack the Skye on shuffle with other Mastodon albums and hear for yourself. What these guys have done is amazing and ambitious.

This album, like its predecessor Blood Mountain, is more tuneful and less about showing off guitar riffs. The drums are much more subtle than in the past, and the guitarists seem to have developed a better sense of how to wrap there frantic fretwork around Brann Dailors polyrhythmic ode to Genesis style instead of letting it take the lead.   The band has been drifting away from deep growl vocals over the last couple of albums, and that continues to be the case here. While the growl has not disappeared altogether, when it is used it works brilliantly, adding to the album’s emotional depth. The lighter vocals do not appear to be as processed as they were on Blood Mountain, instead Troy or Brent (not sure which) has developed a more classic rock style, similar in sound and range to Chris Cornell or Ozzy Osbourne, but maintaining a uniqueness that fits the albums mesmerizing tones.

This may very well be the best metal album since Vulgar Display of Power. I am very picky when it comes to metal, and the thing I love about Mastodon is that they go against the flow of modern metal, and they take there influences from multiple genres. They aren’t trying to be the most extreme brutal band out there; they just seem focused on making good music. Very few bands keep their day jobs after their first world tour, I think the fact these guys are still installing roofs in there downtime speaks volumes about the handiwork they put in their music.