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8 out of 10
Going back a couple of years to a time of trepidation, of discovery, of much hope, belief and great expectations. Standing at the forefront were four bands, four heavy weights in their field of battle, all of which were releasing albums simultaneously (it was practically synchronised swimming. there were rumours of those weird little nose plaster things being bandied about), albums that were to prove that hope can be a dangerous thing, or perhaps an exercise in why trust should not be placed so emphatically upon things out of your control. 'Get on with it, stop the dithering' I can practically hear my brain sigh, but my fingers have other plans and have something to say. Seeing as they are incapable of independent thought I really have to take the full blame/credit (delete as appropriate) for what comes out next...
Skip to the end:
Cult of Luna - Somewhere Along the Highway = Shite
Isis - In The Absence of Truth = Far too wangy/where was the passion?
Tool - 10,000 Days = Good but not enough (a long wait for a disappointing payoff)
Last and most certainly least;
Mastodon - Blood Mountain = Tripe.
Now I know lots of people liked these albums so I am going to have to ask...why? And it's not that I'm doing the whole elitist 'It's not as good as their early stuff' clichéd response, because since then both Isis and Cult of Luna have shot back and delivered a spinning back fist to the jaw of my knee jerk reaction, in the forms of Wavering Radiant (Powerful, raw bliss) and Eternal Kingdom (Heavens shattered amidst this blistering blast) respectively. So now one question remains;
Deal or No Deal? Shit. sorry that was awful. What I really meant was have Mastodon raised their bar?
One of the issues that I had with the aforementioned albums was the reliance on effects - especially on vocals (Aaron Turner trying to sound like Maynard anyone?) and well, that's not something that has immediately changed on Crack the Skye as parts of the first track Oblivion sound almost Ozzy Osborne-a-like. Some good changes of pace though and into a lovely piece of lead widdling. That is something that Mastodon has always represented well, especially in the live arena, they do rock like Gibraltar.
Divinations bombastically barrages its way through like a war elephant trampling on a village, complete with the sort of riff that makes you want to stand with your feet firmly planted wide apart, guitar phallic-like pointing cloud wards and hands going double time on the claw. Mastodon treads that difficult metal tightrope of balancing the literary with an urge to throw the horns and so far they have managed to rock without breaching that Stilton shaped barrier of no return. See if you are AC/DC there would be no problem purveying the kind of fist in the air rock and damn well rolling that they do, but with the Thunderstruck ones producer Brendan O'Brien stepping on board for Crack the Skye, the worry was always that this band, who could never really lean that far on the side of cheese and be able to be taken seriously, might be considering jumping tandem with a hippo attached and no parachute. You can only come crashing down to earth from that.
This is where The Gear steps up and suddenly it is realised that the hippo on their backs is in fact a hot air balloon and yes the DMT might be kicking in but check it! They're floating! This four-part Leviathan (heh) could possibly be one of Mastodon's finest moments (Hearts Alive might have something to say about that). Essentially a mini rock opera based, arguably, on Rasputin (He was harder than a 15 year old waking up with a belly full of piss to the sight of Jennifer Ellison sunbathing naked) slapped right in the middle of Crack the Skye.
On this album Mastodon have slowed things down a notch or two; there is no more galloping through woodland as trees tug and tear at your clothes. No this is more like the constant and fearsome forward march of an army with either salvation or murder on their minds, unfortunately you won't know which it is until you can see the whites of their eyes and by then you might also be seeing the red of your innards.
Things go a little spacey on the title track but well named it is as it sounds like the soundtrack for a battle around the base of a rocket, be it nuclear or space - either way the Skye is getting shafted and to top things off the final track is a brutal bugger; finishing on a malevolent and in some ways astounding note in the guise of The Last Baron.
So back to the original question and well... I think the answer is... Deal. Unlikely to knock Remission of the top spot but everyone knows the old stuff is the best. Just kidding, in fact I don't know if it beats the Moby Dick opus, but it is certainly an improvement on their last outing.
Listen: www.myspace.com/mastodon
Tracklist:
1. Oblivion
2. Divinations
3. Quintessence
4. The Gear (I - Usurper. II - Escape. III - Martyr. IV - Spiral)
5. Ghost of Karelia
6. Crack the Skye
7. The Last Baron
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