CRACK THE SKYE

I found LEVIATHAN and BLOOD MOUNTAIN to be fantastic albums. Mastodon have managed to create a unique twist of metal/prog they have been fine-tuning over the years, every album up a notch. so I was very piqued to find out what their new album sounded like. I got it as soon as I could, and I can only say: It's BIG! It's huge! It's metal, it's prog, it's southern rock, it's genius!

I will not bother reviewing the album track by track. It's irrelevant. There are no weaknesses, it's utterly captivating from the opening seconds of OBLIVION to the fading tones of THE LAST BARON. In 50 minutes, Mastodon manage to carve a prism with so many facets, a world so full of creativity, imagination and emotion, it's baffling.

If you're not convinced after this review, and still want to check out highlights, listen to tracks 1 through 7, so that you too may see the light. After about 100 spins in the iPOD, I can safely say that CRACK THE SKYE is a monster album. Not even Dream Theater stands a chance anymore to make it to the top of my album year list (and I haven't even heard them yet).

In my opinion, with CRACK THE SKYE, Mastodon have ranked themselves among at the top of their genre, and among the top of metal bands in the world. All hail to the new kings, Mastodon!