CRACK THE SKYE

Have you grown, evolved, and matured with your favorite metal bands? Are you less angry and more articulate than you were five years ago? If so, you will probably enjoy this album. While you won't find another "Crusher Destroyer" or "March of the Fire Ants" on Crack the Skye, it is not Mastodon lite or Metallica's Black Album. But it does feature the band shooting from its collective third eye like much like the esoteric figures adorning the album's cover. Drummer, Brann Dailor puts on a drum clinic throughout the disc's seven tracks, and co-guitarists Brent Hinds and Bill Kelliher will have budding, young shredders holed up in the woodshed copping their impressive licks.

The album's opening track, "Oblivion", begins with an arpegiated guitar line that morphs into a jackhammer-picked riff, before a blazing solo demands the listener's attention. The sung, not growled, vocals are surprisingly well done. "Divinations" follows, commencing with an atonal banjo lick, yes banjo, before the growl returns and Mastodon displays their adeptness at weaving melody into the headbanging stomp of their tunes. "Quintessence" is one of the Crack the Skye's standout tracks, replete with Kelliher and Hinds' trademark harmonized guitar leads and dizzying hammer-ons and pull-offs that build into progressive rock passages with modulating chord shifts and a kind of silly and unnecessary chorus. The Floydian synth intro of the "The Czar", is an admirable foray away from the usual riffage, but does not do much to serve the song. Notable Robert Fripp inspired guitar work occurs at ten and a half minutes into the tune. "Ghost of Karelia" is another mid-tempo crusher with what sounds like slide guitar in the mix, and the title track begins ballad-like before unexpected chord changes keep the listener guessing as the crunch thickens.

Overall, things seem a bit pulled back until the album's final track, "The Last Baron". The piano and acoustic guitar intro is further evidence of the album's mega-budget. Then, six minutes into the thirteen-minute tune, the jaw-dropping shredfest begins and does not let up. Crack the Skye's refined sound does sacrifice a smidge of brutality in order to take metal to a new place that they have created. However, the band's musicianship is staggering and I only anticipate growing fonder of this batch of tunes with repeated listens. New and longtime fans will certainly agree.

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