December 21: Mastodon - Crack the Skye
Mastodon - Crack the Skye from the album Crack the Skye.
Spotify link: http://open.spotify.com/track/4nwwFLQqopxAL0g2L0Fg0B
Mastodon, the band known for complex, progressive music, crazy drumming (in fact, some claim that the drumming is doing the riffing, and the guitars are just trying to glue it all together) and very cool artwork, released their newest album “Crack the Skye” in 2009. This time they have gone a bit back to the basics, focusing on creating good, solid tracks instead of trying to push boundaries. They also had the privilege of having some great guest musicians join them, which they also have done earlier with Josh Homme and two of the guys from Mars Volta, and Scott Kelly from Neurosis on the album Blood Mountain, and Scott Kelly is also present on this album, on the track Crack the Skye.
The song has many similarities to Neurosis, especially the very powerful riff at about 01:04. I actually though to myself: “Hey, this part is a goddamn Neurosis ripoff”, before I even knew that Scott Kelly was a guest musician on the album. I guess it’s ok to steal some Neurosis riffs if you are doing the scheme with Neurosis and the music turns out as good as this.