Mastodon is one of the few heavy metal bands that I’ve ever been able to enjoy. For some reason or another metal is a genre that just does not usually appeal to me. I’m not sure what makes Mastodon an exception to this rule. Maybe it’s their overabundance of face-melting guitar work (guitarists Brent Hinds and Bill Kelliher each shred more than an electric cheese grater). Or it could be because listening to their drummer, Brann Dailor, makes me never want to pick up drum sticks (people just shouldn’t be that good). Maybe it’s their love for outrageous publicity (Hinds probably gets into enough drunken brawls to become an honorary UFC fighter). Of course, it could just be the fact that Hinds has a wicked tattoo on his face. You can’t really get more metal than that.

I have been waiting impatiently for Crack the Skye to be released since I first heard rumors through the music news website Pitchfork. Going into 2009 this was hands down the album I was most excited to hear. There was just no way it could be anything less than awesome. To prepare myself for a new Mastodon album I listened to some of their older work (2004’s Leviathan and 2006’s Blood Mountain) almost nonstop in the weeks leading up to the album’s March 24 release date. This was probably a terrible idea, because Crack the Skye is a new beast entirely. Sure, the musicianship is still outstanding, but compared to their older work the differences seem to outweigh the similarities.

This meant, of course, that I was a little disappointed after my first listen to Crack the Skye. At first it sounded like a completely different band. I thought I’d accidentally bought the wrong album. The first difference I noticed was the vocals. The various band members do a lot more singing here than on previous albums, where yelling or howling were more the trend. This just seemed odd at first. Another difference I picked up on was in the track listing. Where Leviathan and Blood Mountain had ten and twelve tracks, respectively, Crack the Skye ends after only seven. Of course, two of those tracks (“The Czar” and “The Last Baron”) are epics that stretch past the ten minute mark, so I guess that’s forgivable. This change in song length marks another noticeable difference. Leviathan only had one track longer than ten minutes, and the longest track on Blood Mountain clocked in at just over five minutes. This turned out to be a good thing because it allows the band to fully explore and play with their musical ideas, especially on the two epic tracks.

Thankfully this album, and the band’s new musical direction, have both grown on me. Once I was able to listen to Crack the Skye without comparing it to older material, I was able to realize that this is still the same Mastodon. I guess they seem to have toned their sound down a little bit, possibly to increase their already massive fan base. After a few listens I’ve come to enjoy all of the differences I’ve mentioned. The changes in vocals wouldn’t have worked with their older songs, which were fierce and thrashing from start to finish, but fit perfectly with their more experimental new tracks. Hinds’ vocals (somewhere between a screech and a howl) still sound relatively the same, so that’s some small comfort. The longer song lengths also wouldn’t have worked with their older style, but it allows their new songs to swell and evolve in fulfilling ways. This is great because Crack the Skye covers trippy topics like wormholes, Tsarist Russia and out of body experiences. They wrote a heavy metal epic about Tsarist Russia. Maybe that’s why I like Mastodon so much.

To sum up: Crack the Skye is definitely worth your money. What else are you going to spend it on?

"Divinations"

"Oblivion"