CRACK THE SKYE

Well, Mastodon. The big prog band. I think they've earned being called that. Because, this record, Crack The Skye, is absolutely unprecedented. It's brilliant, technical and musical all at the same time. It flows amazingly. I was lucky enough to get an advanced copy (My hookups at Relapse) of it and I couldn't stop listening to it. This band really knocked it out of the park.

Oblivion, the beginning of the record. It sounded very promising the first time I heard it. The big build up at the beginning caught me off guard, because I was expecting some more of The Wolf is Loose. But what I got instead was just magnificent. Clean vocals! Mastodon would never do that! The chorus is just so eerie and glorious: Fallen from grace cause i been away too long Leaving you behind with my lonesome song Now i'm lost in oblivion. Then the guitar solo. Brilliant track. (10/10)

DIVINATIONS! Although it may be the single of the record, it still holds up and is very interesting. Again the chorus: NO ESCAAAPE BINDIING SPIRITS. It also has a very interesting ending, with some strange sounds and stuff. Top notch! (10/10)

Quintessence, a song named after the famous Raga rock band! This song is another psychedelic trip. (See the pre chorus) But it shows how Mastodon really is capable of melding their heavy side and prog side into one song. This song is an absolutely smashing example. The ending has a return of some of the weird fuzzy vocals from Blood Mountain. (10/10)

The Czar. What's this I hear? Organ? On a Mastodon record? You must be kidding. This track is THE best off the record. Bar none. The Last Baron comes close, but this track is the best. It may even be the best Mastodon track EVER. I'm not going to spoil anything by running through it, but I can tell you it has the absolute best guitar solo on the record. I have 134 plays of this track on my Last.fm profile. 134. That should give you a hint at how good this track is. And if you listen to it nearly as much as I do, you'll be humming Dont stay, run away all day long. (99999/10)

Ghost of Karelia starts off very interesting with the lone cymbal and bells. The verses have the oddest singing I've ever heard from Mastodon. This track doesn't even sound like them. It's very puzzling at first but it grows on you. Simply amazing. (10/10)

Crack the Skye! The obligatory Scott Kelly track! This one starts off VERY gloriously and keeps up with the overall strangeness of the vocals. It's really not that much of a change from Ghost of Karelia, as I tend to confuse the two because they have similar endings. It's an absolute solid track, albeit the weakest on the album. For me at least. (10/10)

The Last Baron! This is the track I anticipated constantly for weeks and weeks ever since I heard of the new album coming out. Any 13 minute Mastodon track has to be absolutely insane in every way or sense. You see, my advanced copy was missing this track. So I didn't get to hear it until I bought the full record yesterday. I was expecting some very technical, even Dream Theater-esque parts if you may. The build ups and the breakdowns and the prog-jazz part all boggled my mind. This track does not sink in at first. It takes about 10 listens. Then you get sucked into it like the main character! This is a perfect closer for a monster record. (10/10)

This record is seriously PERFECT. I couldn't find anything wrong with it. It's short length (Mastodon records normally push around 70+ minutes), it's beautiful music and clean vocals. But overall, it's proof that Mastodon is growing up. They've been literally, progressing musically since Leviathan came out. Blood Mountain was a step up, but this record just jumped the whole staircase! This record is definitely destined to go down in history. If you ever doubted Mastodon, go out this very instant and buy this record. It's cheap, I only payed 11.99 for it. If I could rate this 10 stars, I would. In fact I might make another account to review it again!