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It is an extremely personal record. This record is a perfect reflection of our emotional past two years as a band. We were able to dig a little deeper and to come up with ultimately more spacious, melodic, and sincere music. -Troy Sanders |
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Photo by Mike Bax courtesy of mastodonrocks.com
SPACE TRAVEL, WORMHOLES & RUSSIAN CZARS
 Brent Hinds by Rod Snyder |
Completing their cycle of elements, this is Mastodon's "ether" album. Following the "fire" theme of their unrelenting 2003 debut Remissions, the "water" thread of 2004's Leviathan and the "earth" tone of 2006's psychedelic breakout Blood Mountain, they are now reaching for the stars and "cracking the sky," if you will. The intricate storyline inside their latest effort finds the band delving into wormholes as a crippled man travels through space only to eventually return to Earth healed of his paralysis.
"We were able to tie [the album] into one bizarre yet wonderfully concocted story," explains Sanders. "We deal with out-of-body experiences and astral travel. We always deal with topics that the four of us are fascinated with. The ideas and possibilities of time travel through wormholes, that just blows us away."
Relaying the fantastical journey of the album's protagonist, Sanders continues to passionately discuss stars, galaxies constellations and "the journey that Rasputin had from the snowy woods of Siberia all the way to befriending the tsarina and having godlike qualities to cure the tsarina's son of hemophilia. His whole assassination of being dosed with cyanide, not killing him, being shot at, that not killing him, eventually drowning in a river." He concluded his wild-eyed rambling by breaking it down, "[We like] dealing with divinations and tapping into séance and anything and all things supernatural."
If all this sounds like a bit much, well, perhaps it is. But, that's because it's out of context. It's like reading a movie script without any of the visuals. How would Tommy read on paper, or Ziggy Stardust or anything by The Mars Volta? Take Crack The Skye's plot and put it to the music and all of a sudden shit starts falling into place.
Consider the epic four-part centerpiece of the album, "The Czar." Featuring multiple sections, voices, temperaments, tempos and journeys in its ten-minutes of life, it is quite simply, one of the best songs we will hear all year. It's pure prog-rock genius with a midsection swell and spacious jam area. There are elements of Frank Zappa, Rush, Yes, ELP, Metallica and more. It's the kind of song that if given the chance could unite hippies and hell's children alike.
But even with the fresh melodic approach, symphonic tendencies, brilliant guitars, Moog runs and restrained attack, the storyline is still incredibly dense and difficult to puncture. And for some, it doesn't matter how many mind-boggling guitar solos and insane drum rolls there are, they still won't get their head around a concept album of this nature. That is, unless they dig just a little deeper. Like most art, this sci-fi journey is all metaphor and it's deeply rooted in real-life tragedy.
THIS ONE IS PERSONAL
 Brent Hinds by Anssi Koskinen |
Beyond the vocal and instrumental evolutions that became fully realized in the hands of O'Brien, there's another aspect to Crack The Skye that has fueled this great leap forward for Mastodon.
"It is an extremely personal record" admits Sanders. "This record is a perfect reflection of our emotional past two years as a band. We were able to dig a little deeper and to come up with ultimately more spacious, melodic and sincere music."
A major part of the emotional turmoil Sanders is referring to involves the massive head injuries suffered by lead guitarist/vocalist Brent Hinds. Following the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards in Las Vegas, Hinds was involved in an altercation with System of a Down bassist Shavo Odadjian and another musician named William Hudson. The brawl left Hinds in a coma with severe brain hemorrhaging, a broken nose, two black eyes and an uncertain future.
Just as the band was reaching a huge peak of Grammy nominations and "Best Of The Year" accolades, they had the rug pulled out from underneath them. Sanders, drummer Brann Dailor and guitarist Bill Kelliher were aware that Hinds might never recover the ability to play guitar, or worse, he could die. But like the monster musician and man he is, Hinds rose from his bed hungry for more.
"I was so glad to be alive when it was all over, so glad to have my motor skills back and be able to function again" says Hinds. "I was laid up pretty hardcore for a couple of months. So when I finally started playing guitar again I was really into playing guitar. It was a creative outburst. Don't know if it came from the accident or not, but when I found out I was okay I was really excited about playing guitar."
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