Contrary to their continuing reputation of wacky prog intellectuals, Mastodon were always down to earth merchants of drunken chaos and mayhem. And they also know how to record a great rock album, rooted in the 70’s. How come? Nobody knows, except them. With the success of their previous album ‘Blood Mountain’ under their belts, it was easy to predict that Mastodon will try to strike big time again. Only we didn’t know that they would totally change the approach. ‘Crack the Skye’ (with the word Skye coming from Bran’s sister who committed suicide at 14) is an unparalleled album in every possible aspect. It’s imminent to notice that Neurosis were a bit influential here, but that doesn’t surprise much after you put the CD in your beloved player and certain notes from the opener ‘Oblivion’ begin to float in the air around you as if you have taken some weird drug. Then it becomes obvious that the band has given 99% of the artistic control to no other than Brent Hinds. That guy admits he is not a metal head. That’s why ‘Crack The Sky’ sounds like a twisted mixture between King Crimson, Voivod, Rush and even Frank Zappa sometimes. You need to understand that it’s a concept album with a storyline about the ethereal element of the Universe, spiritual astral and time travels and quite weird backgrounds like those of a Tzarist Russia. The name of Rasputin springs in mind, but although he’s been part of the lyrical plot, that’s not the real character Rasputin who really matters in this story. Though one, eh? Musically, there are even more challenges, but once you get addicted to ‘Crack The Skye’, there’s no turning back. Each and every of the 4 parts of the mighty ‘The Tzar’ will suck you again through a wormhole. Each time you will let your own spirit float when you listen to ‘Karelia’. Mastodon have executed a masterpiece that hopefully will live for decades and will let people talk about it in 30 years, like it happened with Floyd’s ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’.