Track Listing

1. Oblivion
2. Divinations
3. Quintessence
4. Czar, The (I) Usurper, (II) Escape, (III) Martyr, (IV) Spiral
5. Ghost Of Karelia
6. Crack The Skye
7. The Last Baron

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1325 in Music
• Released on: 2009-03-23
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: CD
• Dimensions: .20 pounds

CD Description
Fourth album from the successful American progressive metallers and follow up to their 2006 major label debut 'Blood Mountain'. That album, while their most successful, drew criticism from some fans for its seeming lack of focus. This album seeks to remedy that issue by having a unified concept in which an astral traveller wanders the spirit realm, exploring themes from quantum physics to Czarist Russia, and musically is as complex, brutal and enthralling as their earlier work.

Customer Reviews

A masterpiece
The trend from Leviathan and Blood Mountain is for the music to be evolving every time. Each album gets richer, bigger sounding and dare I say it for some Metal fans more melodic. Crack the Skye follows the trend perfectly. Its still got a hardcore heart, but anyone focussing on that element is missing the point. Mastodon are about the music and not the label. For me this album is grown up metal. Sometimes the harder the music the less the affect. You need the light to appreciate the dark. This album has both in spades. Every listen I can't help but be impressed with the sheer talent of the musicianship and vision and scope of the sound. The sound quality is awesome, some really great production on this album, as with their last two. This album should go down as an all time great.

A moving, musical masterpiece
Crack the Skye is Mastodon's fifth album and musically it picks up where the highly acclaimed Blood Mountain (2006) left off. Once again we are served with an abundance of dazzling, technical playing and mind-boggling lyrical concepts, but this time the band also succeed in capturing a degree of emotion hitherto unheard on a Mastodon record.

The writing of this record was informed by some troubled times for all four members of Mastodon, and the title itself was conceived in homage to Brann Dailor's sister, who tragically died at the age of 14. It also ties in themes of astral travel and Tsarist Russia. As you would expect from an album of such poignancy and scope, Crack the Skye is not an easy record to get your head round, perhaps even for long-time Mastodon fans who are used to unexpected left turns and constant progression - often within the space of a single track. Only opener 'Oblivion' - a fairly straightforward verse-chorus, verse-chorus track - is what you might call 'catchy' and yet it still manages to be unfathomably affecting. The album's first single, 'Divinations', meanwhile, is instantly recognisable as a Mastodon track - all chaotic time-signatures and Dailor's awesome drumming. However, almost all subsequent tracks include more measured, restrained passages, coupled with greater subtleties than before. The opening notes of 'The Czar', for example, are exquisitely haunting, while the title-track features long-time Mastodon collaborator Scott Kelly of Neurosis, to superb effect.

Ultimately, this is prog rock at its finest; it's also a thoroughly modern and vital-sounding record that deserves your attention. Yes, it will take repeated listens to fully appreciate, but I for one am certain I'll be listening to this for many, many years to come.

Matt Pucci

The ghost and the machine
I have Mastodon's previous releases, all of which i liked, but i always had slight reservations, because i could never spend too much time on them, my concentration would wander for some reason, was it that they weren't heavy enough ? were they trying to be too clever ? too ambitious? too pretenious. I've just played Crack the Skye 6 times in a row, problem solved,all they needed was a slight tweek here & there in their well oiled machine. Mastodon have refined their sound abit, come up with some fantastic & haunting melodies,ghostly but hooky choruses, the beautiful bits are more beautiful, the brutality although still brutal is more controlled. They've actually learned how to write a song or two. No doubt the hardcore fans will be disappointed saying the band have sold out, not so. They've just matured their sound and all the better for it. The busiest drummer in the world is still earning his wages + overtime, the complex arrangments & progression is very much at the front, just check out 9 1/2 glorious minutes of The Czar,wallow in how it twists and turns. This 37 minute gem is a short but magical journey. The only let down is, like all the finest hard rock albums. Its all over too quick & its back to the beginning to see what mystical delights you missed last time around. Its sounds as if the last couple of years of touring previous release Blood Mountain have really paid off because this is a work of slight genius. I really hope they don't keep us too long before the next release.