Review Summary: Traveling Through the Aether and Beyond
Mastodon travels out into the deepest depths of outer space on Crack the Skye, and after all, why not? They've already sailed the deepest oceans to conquer Moby Dick and traveled Blood Mountain to place the Crystal Skull at the top. Mastodon, composed of drummer/vocalist Brann Dailor, lead guitarist/vocalist Brent Hinds, rhythm guitarist Bill Kelliher, and bassist/vocalist Troy Sanders, is a bunch of acid-tripping creative-as-all-hell metalheads. All four of these men are incredibly talented at their respective instruments, and they also know how to play and feed off one another, allowing each to shine at the most fitting of moments:
- Brent Hinds lends his hillbilly-psycho-acid-laced-maniacal guitar riffs and solos
- Troy Sanders is the mountain-man-turned-wise-sage responsible for holding down the frontlines
- Bill Kelliher is the slightly nerdier version of James Hetfield that brings gargantuan-sized guitar riffs to the table
- Brann Dailor is the clown-loving octopus-turned-best singer/drummer in music history since Phil Collins.
If this premise and mash-up of members doesn't intrigue you to at least check out this album, I don't know what will.
Crack the Skye is supposedly about a paraplegic man who can astral-project, accidentally traveling through a wormhole where he gets sent to a Russian cult and gets his soul lodged inside Rasputin's body. Rasputin gets murdered, and both of their souls come face to face with the devil. The devil then tries to steal their souls and bring them to hell. Or something like that.
Crack the Skye is actually about the loss of Brann Dailor's sister. Anyone who is a fan of Mastodon knows about the tragic tale of Skye Dailor, whom the band pays massive homage to throughout the album. At the same time, much like their 2004 and 2006 releases, Leviathan and Blood Mountain, respectively, Crack the Skye is ultimately about the meteoric rise of arguably the greatest metal band of the 21st century and quite possibly one of the greatest metal bands of all time. The boys know it too, but they are never snarky about it. Well, maybe everyone besides the root-em-toot-em loudmouth Brent Hinds. He has every right to be cocky of his abilities as he turns an electric guitar into a banjo at a moment's notice only to fingerpick the nastiest, most psychedelic riff that seemingly came from straight out of hell. Speaking of talent for the first time in the band's career, drummer extraordinaire Brann Dailor lends his beautiful and delicate vocals to over half of these tracks. His vocal talents make for quite a delicious ear-treat and break up the bellowing Troy Sanders and demonic-singing/screaming Brent Hinds.
There are a couple of new members that certainly make their presence known on the album: brilliant producer Brendan O'Brien, who has worked with some of the biggest names in music (AC/DC, Soundgarden, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bruce Springsteen, etc.) and Scott Kelly, known for his work as vocalist of post-metal/sludge band Neurosis. Crack the Skye is O'Brien's first round with the Masto-boys, and he brings his best work to this album. He includes psychedelic and hallucinogenic sound effects on the album that masterfully set the stage for the four band members to crush and destroy. Instruments play together and evoke iridescent mental imagery, thrusting you into a space in your mind's eye as if you are that previously mentioned paraplegic floating through space and dancing with the devil alongside Rasputin.
Vocals weave together perfectly, introducing different flavors of spice and life to the band. The proggiest moments (Quintessence, The Last Baron) on Crack the Skye are sure to make Geddy Lee's, Alex Lifeson's, and Neil Peart's (R.I.P.) knees tremble. It's not Scott Kelly's first time with the band, as he lent his vocal talents to Leviathan (Aqua Dementia) and Blood Mountain (Crystal Skull). Kelly brings some extremely dominant and ferocious vocals to the title track, Crack the Skye, almost ripping open the space-time continuum that nearly provides Brann Dailor with the ability to save his sister. Without these two additional members, Crack the Skye would certainly not be the same.
There are no weak moments on the album, as each track bleeds into the next masterfully to create one helluva rollercoaster/space odyssey. Riffs twist and twirl, vocals destroy and soothe the soul, technical abilities astound the listener and are far from being matched; the list goes on. Crack the Skye is pinnacle Mastodon, a landmark in progressive metal, and an homage to a beloved sister whose drummer brother's band would not be the same today had events not transpired the way they did.
