Mastodon’s Crack the Skye

The last day of my junior year in college began uniquely: my suitemate Jeremy, mid-packing session, stopped his preparations to leave long enough to burst into my room and wake me up to tell me this: “Dude, I’ve listened to Crack the Skye like ninety five times this quarter. That’s over 100 hours.”

Yes, Jeremy. Yes, it is.

Later, I found that I, too had been blitzing the album ever since it’s late-March release. It could be because I was among the first people in the world to hear pieces of the album at last year’s Bonnaroo. I’ve actually listened to it more than I have any CD since Machine Head’s The Blackening in 2007. It should have come as no surprise, Crack the Skye is the most compulsively listenable Metal album I’ve heard since Metallica’s The Black Album in 1991. Mastodon have been following that particular band’s career path for quite some time now, releasing album after album of increasingly melodic and complex, but heavy metal with a knack for epic choruses. That said, I don’t see Crack the Skye matching The Black Album’s monstrous cultural and economic presence, despite the fact that the boys in Mastodon have mastered those epic choruses and polished them to a mirror shine.

Crack the Skye has more in common with Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin than any current band, or any of the band’s previous work: the songs are lush, dense, and long affairs that double as guitar heroics and lush psychedelic soundscapes. There’s a narrative present, some tripped-out story that involves Icarus, astral projection, wormholes, time travel, czarist Russia, ghosts, Rasputin, and drummer/singer Brann Dailor’s deceased sister Skye (get it? Good). Clearly that’s all a metaphor for personal experiences of the members of the band, and thus not really meant to be intelligible, just interesting. What’s crazy is that it almost makes sense in a waking dream logic sort of way, but the emotive dips of the album are more engaging.

Crack the Skye begins with a graceful downer in “Oblivion,” one of the album’s strongest tracks, and current radio single. The album gets more intense and depressing from there as “Oblivion”s mellow “Leaving you behind with my lonesome song/ Now I’m lost in Oblivion” chorus is blasted out of mind by the frantic first lines of “Divinations”: “It’s gone away/ It’s gone for good!” The lyrics overall impress, although the moronic “Letting go!” gang shouts in “Quintessensce” pull that track into mediocrity. Fortunately it’s the only stinker. At the literal halfway point, during the final section of “The Czar,” the sky itself does bend and crack in a moment of hopeful tranquility, “I see your face in constellations/ the martyr is ending his life for mine.” The second half of the album is a nearly seamless roller coaster of good old fashioned heavy rock.

The album vaults from electric to acoustic constantly, and there are no harsh vocals to be found: Mastodon’s three(!) vocalists have learned to harmonize like The Beach Boys, or at least replicated the effect with studio overdubs. The whole affair is very produced and polished, leaving a slightly unpleasant air of plasticity in the sound, but there are enough charming flaws to make the disc seem human and crafted, not designed by executives. The whole album functions on that push and pull with consumerism. These songs are bright, almost cheerful sounding, but the subject matter is too esoteric and twisted for radio play. Likewise, while the structures work on simple verse-chorus-verse, the song lengths are distinctly inaccessible. Crack the Skye appeals to a different kind of music fan, the kind of listener that’s willing to invest effort in not skipping ahead on their stereo or iPod and let the album communicate through sheer osmosis. Stoners, in short.

Mastodon seems to trust their demographic, and hope this album will be a worthy tribute to Dailor’s sister and much more. They weave together a grand total of three distinct epic choruses into a single, cohesive, thirteen minute whole on closer (and best cut) “The Last Baron,” masterfully. That song, and the album’s most memorable moment is a triumphant crescendo where guitarist/singer Brent Hinds’ normally limited voice explodes into “I guess they would say we could set this would ablaze!” He’s not just talking about the mysterious tragic hero’s alliance with Rasputin’s ghost and eventually victory over Satan (Yes, you read that right), he’s talking about the history Mastodon know they will make with Crack the Skye. They’ve already sold out a nationwide tour where they played the album front to back with video and special effects to help them tell its story, whatever that really is.

Point being, these guys are crazy. They were crazy enough to make this beautiful misfit of an album and give it their full support. Clearly, they love their deeply flawed masterpiece as much as Jeremy does. This comes highly recommended, with hallucinogenic appetizer if you want to follow the plot. For recommended samples, below are links to the “Oblivion” music video. It’s awesome, too.

The Kosmo goes to Ogrefest

LANSING—Dive bars, rolling fields, not-so-virgin-forests, economically-segregated cities verging on bankruptcy–in almost every way a state both picturesque, yet bleak. Given that, it’s no surprise that Michigan is secretly a hotbed of underground heavy metal music. Historically, metal has been a genre of music found in the coastal regions of America (The 80’s San Fransisco Thrash scene, the 90’s Florida Death Metal scene), which might explain why so many of the quality bands found in the Midwest are still unsigned. That lack of label attention, however, has resulted in a tight-knit, independent scene whose yearly mecca is the annual Ogrefest concert held at Mac’s Bar in Lansing.

Mac’s Bar itself is a dive bar that feels like home, intimate and lovably grimy with a pulverizing sound system. The music on the jukebox and the low prices of specialty drinks like “Virgin’s Blood” send a clear message that this place is metal friendly, and good thing too—the locals need somewhere to bring the fury.

Last year’s Ogrefest was a revelation to me: not only was it the final performance of Detroit emotive melo-death legends Cursed Eternity, but it was a titanic set by Chicagoan joke-grind Mavin’s Maggot Twat. Needless to say, 2009 had a lot to live up to, but the greatly increased attendance showed that the routinely fantastic performances have lit a fire among Midwest metal heads. The growth also showed in the roster: this year’s fest had over twenty scheduled bands, and ran for fourteen hours.

My companions and I only managed to get there around six, hours into the show, due to flooding and power outages in the state. Those same outages caused the bands minor headaches, but even so almost every band ended and began on time, keeping the pace brisk and energetic.

The standout performances showed the untapped power of the familial local scene, as well as its diversity. Perhaps the most technically proficient band was Lansing instru-metal act Year 2000X, who played only metallic covers of classic videogame themes (their name is a reference to Megaman 2). The boys rocked out to rousing renditions of “The Contra Theme” and “Metal Gear,” with extended jams for solos—they are a homegrown Dragonforce, simultaneously more immersive and honest without the pretentious fretbord tactics Herman Li and crew overuse.

Blackened crust punks Wastelander kept things punishing and simple, sounding like Amebix and Bathory playing Motorhead songs, inciting enthusiastic responses from the audience in a festival full of bands with extreme technical merit like Cavalcade. Wastelander proves that good songwriting trumps solo ability every time.

“Thrash, Kill, Destroy”Ohio band Hammerhoarde play a very European style of Viking-influenced folk metal, sounding a bit like Turisas and Amon Amarth through lo-fi stereo speakers. Hammerhoarde are popular with the ladies—the whole show was surprisingly friendly to the oft-neglected woman metalheads, but the women took central parts in raising battle cries for the boys. They perform in renaissance fair gear and kilts, keeping a fun and engaging atmosphere through their set, even if all their songs sound the same.

Genocya played an energetic and spastic set of blackened technical thrashcore numbers, peppered with judicious self-promotion, before the legendary Satyriasis took the stage, bringing hooky but technical death metal to all. Ogrefest itself is organized by Satyrasis’ lead singer and guitarist Dave Petterman, who was thanked by every band on the bill at least once, if not multiple times. They played choice cuts like “Psyclopean Shores” and “Sheep in Wolf’s Clothing,” and a Rush cover to rousing applause.

The outstanding performance had to belong to Lansing’s Dagon (named after the HP Lovecraft story of the same name). They call their music Ocean Metal, and even played a song of the same name, but their music is best described as punishing progressive thrash, with hooky riffs, sing-along chorus and numerous start-stop drum kicks that left the crowd in a tizzy. Their stage presence is playful and professional at once—most notably in a cover of Pat Benatar’s “Heartbreaker.”

The night ended with a rare performance by notoriously lazy black metal band Sauron, who managed to rouse riotous applause without expensive equipment or even excellent songs, just great riffs and blistering speed. Their original work was strong, but for a closer they played Judas Priest’s “Breaking the Law” causing the first and only real mosh pit of the evening, leaving everyone to wander home sweaty, exhausted, and blissfully full of great underground metal.

A review of the new album Wrath, by Lamb of God

wrath, n. – a. A state of uncontrolled, retributive anger, the final deadly sin

b. The #2 selling album on the United States Billboard 200 charts.

http://www.lamb-of-god.com/Dave Mustaine, lead singer/guitarist of classic metal band Megadeth once said that dark and extreme music thrives in times of despair and anger among the people.  Perhaps this explains how five self-proclaimed “Punks with Slayer Riffs” are sharing amazing record sales with time-tested champions like U2.  Lamb of God’s fifth album, Wrath, may not be nearly as dark and extreme as some other bands, but the fact that they’ve managed to pilot their 100% American brand of virulent riffage to mainstream success says something about the times we live in.

LoG are known for a technical puree of death metal and groove rock, as well as the tremendous charisma and political lyricisms of their frontman, Randy Blythe. Their previous album, Sacrament, achieved noteworthy sales as well, piloted by its infectiously catchy Bush-bashing single “Redneck.” It was, however, considered by fans as somewhat of a misfire: overproduced, and more of a collection of singles than a coherent listening experience.

Wrath is a different story, with more organic guitars and longer, more fluid songs that achieve similar melodic jams and groovy sections, while dialing up the aggression in the guitar playing—the disc is not very radio friendly, which makes its achievement that much more fascinating. This is a garage band let loose with millions of dollars worth of goodwill, an image the band was quick to promote with the video for lead single “Set to Fail.” LoG have crafted a throwback to the mighty American thrash albums of the 1980’s–Rust in Piece, Master of Puppets–complete with acoustic passages and octave-harmonized solos. In a day where once-holy indie music is being increasingly co-opted by commercialism, hearing something so edgy and retro at once is a breath of fresh air.

Lead guitarist Mark Morton’s solos are less impressive, but simultaneously less wanky than ever before. Like a true guitar hero he’s learned to let the dynamics of the song rather than his own playing move the listener. Finding success in restraint is a sign of maturity.

Sadly, Lamb of God was once known for complex and intellectual lyrics that turned their songs into laser-sharp attacks on conservative government, particularly their pitch-perfect protest album Ashes of the Wake. They’ve been attacking international violence since back when America was drunk on post-9-11 patriotism, and it’s this aspect which makes LoG of interest to liberal arts students.  Unfortunately with the onset of the Obama administration, it feels like the boys have a lot less to scream about with one notable exception–album standout “Contractor.” The song is a perfect blend of prog, metal and punk. It begins with a country boy yell before a minute of blistering thrash, an epic slow-doom breakdown, and finishing with a sinister groove. The song is a veiled stab at Private Military Companies like Blackwater. Randy spits out sarcastic lines with vigor:

“Ours is not to reason why
Ours is but to do if the pay rate’s right.
Black liquid assets, fuck the Mujahideen,
Paint their picket fences Red with the American dream…

Covert reactions say you never saw me.
A glass parking lot in the American Dream.”

Wrath never lives up to the immense standards set by “Contractor,” often feeling a bit same-y in its vigilant anger. Other album highlights include the hyper-melodic “Grace,” and epic closer “Reclamation.” It’s a pleasure to see an excellent band return to their roots and deliver a plain-old good metal album after years of missing mainstream success. While they speak their minds on political issues eloquently and ferociously, too bad it seems to have come a year or so too late. Regardless, let the boys have their fun; with an album this big the tour proceeds alone will ensure more material from them for years to come, even if none of it lives up to Ashes of the Wake.