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  • Release Date:
Crack The Skye Image
Metascore
82

Universal acclaim - based on 29 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
8.7

Universal acclaim- based on 198 Ratings

  • Summary: The fourth album from the Atlantia, Georgia rock band features songs about the murder of Rasputin.

Top Track

Oblivion
I flew beyond the sun before it was time Burning all the gold that held me inside my shell Waiting for you to pull me back in I almost had the world... See the rest of the song lyrics
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 27 out of 29
  2. Negative: 0 out of 29
  1. Amidst blistering tritone riffs and arpeggiated chords is a group keener to explore sonic harmony than crank the distortion. Crack the Skye is an epic trek across the space-time continuum, entirely on Mastodon’s terms.
  2. It’s the rarest type of album: one that exceeds every expectation you may have, branding itself in your mind forever and constantly surprising you with how amazing it is.
  3. It’s the songs that matter most on Crack The Skye, and the songs have rarely sounded stronger.
  4. Alternative Press
    80
    The music is as ambitious as the plot, but more coherent. [May 2009, p.116]
  5. First off, a warning: the best way to encounter Mastodon's Crack the Skye for the first time is with headphones. Reported to be a mystical -- if crunchy -- concept record about Tsarist Russia, this is actually the most involved set of tracks, both in terms of music and production, the band has ever recorded. "Ambitious" is a word that regularly greets Mastodon -- after all, they did an entire album based on Moby Dick -- but until now, that adjective may have been an understatement. There is so much going on in these seven tracks that it's difficult to get it all in a listen or two (one of the reasons that close encounters of the headphone kind are recommended). It may seem strange that the band worked with Bruce Springsteen producer Brendan O'Brien this time out, but it turns out to be a boon for both parties: for the band because O'Brien is obsessive about sounds, textures, and finding spaces in just the right places; for O'Brien because in his work with the Boss he's all but forgotten what the sounds of big roaring electric guitars and overdriven thudding drums can sound like. The guitar arrangements on tracks like "Divinations" and "The Czar," while wildly different from one another, are the most intricate, melodically complex things the band has ever recorded. There are also more subtle moments such as the menacing, brooding, and ultimately downer cuts such as "The Last Baron," where tempos are slowed and keyboards enter the fray and stretch the time, adding a much more multidimensional sense of atmosphere and texture. Still, Crack the Skye rocks, and hard! Its shifting tempos and key structures are far more meaty and forceful than most prog metal, and menace and cosmological speculation exist in equal measure, providing for a spot-on sense of balance. Some of the hardcore death metal conservatives may have trouble with this set, but the album wasn't recorded for them -- or anybody else. Crack the Skye is the sound of a band stretching itself to its limits and exploring the depth of its collective musical identity as a series of possibilities rather than as signatures. And yes, that is a good thing.
  6. In a way, Mastodon operates something like prime-era Metallica, unleashing these huge, blistering tracks that journey over peaks and valleys and ditches and oceans before leaving you spinning.
  7. For metal devotees seeking heaviness and shred paired with otherworldly curio, Crack the Skye is the be all and end all, but for anybody without a Celtic Frost tattoo, do not follow "the wise man's staff / Encased in crystal."

See all 29 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 47 out of 49
  2. Negative: 0 out of 49
  1. Chris
    Mar 26, 2009
    10
    Stunning work from these guys--again. Much praise is due to Mastodon for pushing the envelope.
  2. Apr 24, 2012
    10
    This album is a masterpiece from start to finish. Mastodon continue to redefine the progressive metal sound. I feel this will be the albumThis album is a masterpiece from start to finish. Mastodon continue to redefine the progressive metal sound. I feel this will be the album all other Mastodon albums will be judged by for years to come. Expand
  3. PR
    Apr 1, 2009
    10
    Best metal album since Blood Mountain. I can hear the metal purists name calling Mastodon as "sell outs"... I don't know why Metacritic Best metal album since Blood Mountain. I can hear the metal purists name calling Mastodon as "sell outs"... I don't know why Metacritic isn't putting any full 100/100 Crack The Skye reviews on the list. There are plenty. And from well known sources too. Expand
  4. JoeS.
    Aug 31, 2009
    10
    Best album from the best metal band alive. Need I say more?
  5. Mar 17, 2016
    10
    This album is bloody great. It has prog rock influences, and the riffs are **** heavy: guitars scream through possessed vintage amps fueled byThis album is bloody great. It has prog rock influences, and the riffs are **** heavy: guitars scream through possessed vintage amps fueled by burning valves, while the bass and the drums sculpt frenetic and massive paces. The band wanted to sound fatter and also less metal, but this record can't be labeled to one genre. It's great, that's it. Expand
  6. OlegK
    May 9, 2009
    9
    Must Or Don't listen? No question. This is a relic! Certainly worth a cracking the Hinds' brain in Vegas!
  7. Smenkharon
    Jun 12, 2009
    4
    Huge disappointment for me. Too much melody and not enough rhythmic pounding. Prog-ish noodling instead of compelling riffing. Weak vocals. Huge disappointment for me. Too much melody and not enough rhythmic pounding. Prog-ish noodling instead of compelling riffing. Weak vocals. Nowhere near the replay value of the last three discs. Expand

See all 49 User Reviews