CD Review
This review was originally written by Jose Bernardo for www.theweeklyriff.com between 2008 and 2010.
These were Jose’s first impressions of the songs and were not written after multiple spins.
Artist: Mastodon
Album: Crack The Skye (2009 Reprise)
Tracks: 7
Artist website: http://www.mastodonrocks.com
REVIEW OVERVIEW:
What an amazing album! If you’re a fan of progressive metal, you’re in for a treat.
This is the fourth studio album from Mastodon. There is so much energy. The songs are well crafted and offer great content.
There are times when I felt that the material started to drag a bit but changes come often throughout the songs and they managed to pull the listener back in. For a band that really seems to focus on the heavier aspects of Progressive Metal, it amazed me that this album manages to let a listener drift away and then get sucked back into the music.
Mastodon does well what they do. There’s really no use comparing them to anyone else as there really is no other band that does what they do.
HIGHLIGHTS:
The Czar (in its entirety) and the middle instrumental section of The Last Baron
PLAY BY PLAY REVIEW
Track 1 – Oblivion
This opening track is a riff fest! So many riffs and the interweaving of the vocals through them is very cool.
Track 2 – Divinations
Just because the track length is short does not mean it is not prog. Nice! (Though to be honest, this song is more of a straight ahead metal song, but we’ll call it prog!)
Track 3 – Quintessence
Ok the prog is definitely in effect here. I really love the multiple meters here. They’re used in such an inconspicuous way that you really have to pay attention to notice that the meters have changed.
Track 4 – The Czar
Quintessence segues beautifully in to this song. Textures, layers, dynamics, heavy, riff-rich, genius!
Track 5 – Ghost Of Karelia
This is probably the heaviest track on the album. While the focus is on the power of the track, I think the band lost track of making this track a bit more interesting musically.
Track 6 – Crack The Skye
Ghosts Of Karelia segues into Crack The Skye. The focus on more musically interesting textures is clear from the clean guitar riff at the start of the track. However, as soon as the vocals for the verse enter, the track almost turns into a Lamb Of God song. Not that that’s a bad thing, but Mastodon is no LoG. The lead guitar work is amazing though. It’s so minimalistic for this genre of music that it really works to bring out some emotion.
Track 7 –The Last Baron
Clocking in at 13 minutes, this track is the epic track of the album. Crack The Skye segues into this track almost flawlessly. After the onslaught of the last two tracks, it is nice to get something more mellow at the start of this track.