Album review: Mastodon's 'Crack the Syke'

Once a metal band has penned the tale of a Cyclops-Sasquatch (named Cysquatch, naturally), where else is there left to go topically? For the ambitious Atlanta band Mastodon, whose 2006 album "Blood Mountain" was one of the year's big genre-crossovers, the next move is to a place that Sun Ra, David Bowie and Lil Wayne have gone before them -- the mind-bending mysteries of the cosmos.

"Crack the Skye" is Mastodon's most involved album to date, relying on hyper-intricate guitar arrangements and production nuance in service of its freaky inter-dimensional mythology. There's all manner of wormhole travel, interplanetary necromancy and inscrutable subplots on Russian occultism here. But it's ably bolstered by the flurried riffs of "Divinations" and baroque dirges like "The Czar" and "The Last Baron."

Singer Brent Hinds' nimble cackle is in fine form, and though devotees of Mastodon's breakout "Leviathan" might find it a touch brooding, "Crack the Skye" is a headphone album for those commuting on the Nostromo of "Alien."

Mastodon
"Crack the Skye"
(Reprise)
(Three stars)

Comments

[Mazurek]

This is the worst review ever.
the Cd is golden.

try some more detail/depth about the album

[alex]

what the hell is this. this isnt a review

[Deven]

I clicked the blue text title thinking I might be greeted by an in-depth review. But sadly I was slapped in the face and brought right back to this joke of a 2.5 paragraph review. This isn't a review. It's not even a summary. Oh well, only 2 days til the album drops. Can't wait, especially since they added a prog element (and Tool being my favorite band). Should be a pretty awesome album.

Rolling Stone has a longer review if anyone is interested.

[Eric john]

In my opinion. The depth given to the mythology and what have you sort of justifies their style of music in this album. I think we would be left scratching our head a little more if the subject was of them talking about getting busy with their girlfriend (nickelback). LOL