Arts
April 5
Mastodon is a tough band to pin down. It's a metal outfit through and through, yet it appeals to a much wider fan base than other bands in the metal genre. Mastodon's albums are very thematic and deliberately paced, yet the band has also created some standout singles and can even be found on the "Guitar Hero" video game. Mastodon's latest record, "Crack the Skye," does little to nail the band to a specific genre. Instead, it proves the band is capable of just about anything.
Hailing from Atlanta, Bill Kelliher, Brann Dailor, Brent Hinds and Troy Sanders have been making epic hard rock for over a decade to ever-increasing acclaim and an expanding fan base. Though its lineup is fairly standard and the head-banging riffs are nothing new, Mastodon nevertheless maintains a unique sound. Hinds and Kelliher pluck away at arpeggiated chords on guitar, while Dailor's jazz-influenced drumming keeps rhythm, and Sanders sings in both gruff and clean styles. Though seemingly disparate, these styles gel into a cohesive sound.
With its breakout record, "Leviathan" (2004), Mastodon proved that Moby Dick was as fitting a subject for metal as anything else. With "Blood Mountain" (2006), the band ventured further into the realm of concept albums. Now, the albums all come full circle with "Crack the Skye." It features a scant seven tracks, some of which clock in at over 10 minutes and consist of multiple movements. It's clear that the band seeks to take the listener on a journey.
As the band tells it, "Crack the Skye" is about a paraplegic who experiments with astral travel, journeys through a wormhole in space and ends up in the spirit realm, where he meets Rasputin and attempts to prevent his assassination before eventually winding up back in his own body. If all this sounds confusing, pretentious and oddly specific, well, it is. However, the story is told through the lyrics in much more general terms, allowing the listeners to glean their own conclusions about the songs' meanings, and to the band's credit, the lyrics never come off as overwrought or cheesy.
Heavy-metal veterans, however, should be accustomed to grandiose lyrics. What's truly surprising is the album's cohesiveness. For all its pondering of Stephen Hawking's theories and the rise and fall of a Russian mystic, Mastodon's music alone is enough to conjure the necessary images in listeners' minds, setting a consistently dark, ethereal mood and maintaining it over the course of the album's 50-minute runtime.
As the band has said, "Crack the Skye" is like a cross between Deep Purple and Count Chocula — in other words, a classic rock-oriented sound with a gothic touch. It's less concerned with riffs, speed and virtuosity (though these aspects are definitely present) and instead focuses on melody and harmony, alternatively creating and releasing tension. From the thunderous crescendo of opener "Oblivion" to the oddly funky and completely infectious mid-track shuffle of "The Czar," it's clear that Mastodon is successfully exploring new musical territory.
The band's success may be due in part to producer Brendan O'Brien, who has worked with acts ranging from Bruce Springsteen to Pearl Jam and brings out the softer side of Mastodon's sound. Rather than cranking the sound levels high and putting guitars at the front of the mix, he places emphasis on the vocals, encouraging Sanders and Hinds to use cleaner, more melodic singing styles and to turn down the guitar distortion just a bit. Though less engaging initially, this creates an extremely rewarding listening experience through headphones, as one can easily pick out all the details, such as the textural use of the organ, at a comfortable volume level.
"Crack the Skye" may not feature any tracks as hard-charging and accessible as "Blood & Thunder," but that's not the point. Mastodon has created an entirely different beast, unique among its discography, one that is a complete success.
