Wait a minute? Is this a lost Pink Floyd album? A B-Side that Fear Factory hid from fans in the late 90’s? Or is this Ozzie Osborne suddenly singing melodies again? With much disappointment Crack the Skye, the new effort from metal band Mastodon, enforces my opinion that some bands with tremendous talent must eventually fail, with at least one album.
This may sound horribly inauspicious but this character trait is something I have long held as an ultimate truth. It’s aligned with my love for the idea of the Phoenix rising from the flames. So, in the end, it’s not necessarily a bad thing. But, it’s not what I wanted from this album. Especially now – when I feel I needed a really good metal album to keep my faith alive in metal music. (My faith has been waning ever so slowly the past four years.)
When I first started listening to Mastodon it was late 2002, a five-song EP released by Relapse Records. At the time I was living on the East Coast and would take trips to Philadelphia every summer. The storefront for Relapse Records had just opened the previous year – 2001. That summer, they were playing the song, Hail to Fire in the store as I was browsing around for some Neurosis. Needless to say I was hooked – line and sinker.
Ever since then I have been a devoted Mastodon fan, going to any shows I could, any huge tours including Hellfest, just to see them and buying their albums and merchandise. I also have always spread the gospel of Mastodon to the unconverted in the realm of metal music and have never erased them from my Band listing on any of my MP3 players. Mastodon has always managed to create albums that define a mood and set the stage for big things to come. I feel, especially in examples like Remission, their first full length; they really had a concrete identity; each song layering on the other, each one telling its individual story but relying on the previous one as prologue. Their sound was strangely hypnotic and drudged up. The album Leviathan that followed proved that Mastodon could deliver a metal album with exactness in execution – their instruments weren’t just making noise – they were making music.
Listening to Sound Opinions this past Saturday, Greg Kott said he really appreciated the melodic nature of the album. I can’t agree more. There are some pretty beautiful melodies on this album, but their not melodies I would ever associate with Mastodon. Maybe another reason I’m bitter is because there is no continuity in the landscape of the new album, except for lyrically. Being a writer I am attune to the lyrics above all else. This album is filled with fantastical images of monsters and wizards and sorcery. So maybe that is why there are so many filler parts with the guitarist doing four minute solos and every time a decrescendo ends a crashing drum roll begins. It certainly builds wonder – but not the kind I think they were looking to create. Instead I found myself realizing the album was forgettable, and tragically self absorbed and self aggrandizing.
Ok – I’m not going to stand on a soapbox and talk about “when bands sign to majors they lose their soul,” because their last album – which also scored an MTV award among other accolades was put out by Warner Brothers – but something happened on the way to becoming a little metal band that was larger than life – and then suddenly thrust into the limelight of notoriety in circles that didn’t associate with them when they were on an indie label.
Either way, Crack the Skye won’t be on my spring playlist. But I probably will see them live at the Metro on April 30th. For old times sake and to hear those songs that I know from heart.
