[Henmyr]

New Mastodon reckord out early 2009:
BLABBERMOUTH.NET - MASTODON: New Album Title, Track Listing Revealed

Quote:

Troy Sanders: "I think most of our new material is going to be more under the rock category, but it's pretty epic and involved, extremely layered, broad, melodic, dark, and creepy."

Looks like they will continue their trend of softening their sound with each record.

 

[MetalGeek]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Henmyr /img/forum/go_quote.gif New Mastodon reckord out early 2009: BLABBERMOUTH.NET - MASTODON: New Album Title, Track Listing Revealed Looks like they will continue their trend of softening their sound with each record.

Soft is fine, especially if Blood Mountain can be considered "soft"!

On the same note, one of my favorite metal albums is Baroness's Red, which is, as far as metal goes, pretty soft. If you like Mastodon, I highly recommend Baroness. Isis and Opeth should be mentioned in there, also. Progressive metal is truly an amazing genre.

Mastodon's biggest strength, the way I see it, is the way they squeeze beauty out of chaos. Their ability to weave the intricacy of their riffing with Brann Dailor's insane drumming assault into an album that is, on the whole, much greater than the sum of its parts is absolutely astounding to me.

Hopefully Crack the Skye will be a continuation of the trend they began with Leviathan, while still being surprising and different enough to be entirely new.

\m/ >_< \m/

 

[Henmyr]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MetalGeek /img/forum/go_quote.gif Soft is fine, especially if Blood Mountain can be considered "soft"! On the same note, one of my favorite metal albums is Baroness's Red, which is, as far as metal goes, pretty soft. If you like Mastodon, I highly recommend Baroness. Isis and Opeth should be mentioned in there, also. Progressive metal is truly an amazing genre. Mastodon's biggest strength, the way I see it, is the way they squeeze beauty out of chaos. Their ability to weave the intricacy of their riffing with Brann Dailor's insane drumming assault into an album that is, on the whole, much greater than the sum of its parts is absolutely astounding to me. Hopefully Crack the Skye will be a continuation of the trend they began with Leviathan, while still being surprising and different enough to be entirely new. \m/ >_< \m/

x2 on Baroness. I have their Red album.

As for Blood Mountain being soft, it's really depends on what it's compared to, but compared to Mastodons other albums it really is rather soft. Call of the Mastodon, their first material, is really insanely hard. Remission is more polished than CotM, slightly less insane but better to my ears. Leviathan is yet again more polished than Remission and slightly less hard/insane. With Blood mountain they yet again polished their sound and made it a little less hard.

Though "less hard" does not equal worse (but I do find Blood mountain to be their least great album).

If Crack the Skye is similar to their songs "Hearts alive" and "This mortal soil" I will be very pleased.

 

[ezkcdude]

Quote:

Our favorite records of all time that we always constantly revisit in our own collection are by bands like JOURNEY, YES, KING CRIMSON, FRANK ZAPPA, KANSAS, and all the **** that we grew up with and were inspired by and continue to revisit. We kind of wanted to attempt to capture a record like that, [at least] in our eyes and ears.

Yikes! Say it ain't so...I think I've just lost all respect for them.

 

[MetalGeek]

My pre-ordered Crack the Skye showed up at my door today (it doesn't officially release until tomorrow), and I'm listening to it for the first time right now.

No doubt about it, this album is definitely a Mastodon album. For the most part, the riffing actually doesn't sound like that much of a departure from their previous material...it's just not quite as distorted and brutal, the tempo is generally slower, and it's a bit more melodic. The vocals are cleaner, although there's still some growling thrown in here and there. Overall, it's got a much eerier feel to it than their previous stuff, and there's a bit more atmosphere. It's still heavy compared to most mainstream music, but it's a different kind of heavy than most people are probably accustomed to. I would still classify it somewhere in the metal realm. My earlier statement that it may be comparable to Baroness's Red Album isn't actually all that far off...but it's more Mastodon's style. If you're hoping for another Remission or Leviathan, this isn't the place to look. If you're hoping for something distinctively Mastodon, yet still very different than anything they've ever done before, I would absolutely recommend Crack the Skye.

My initial impressions of this album are actually pretty good. It's much better than I was expecting, but only time will tell if it's as good as I have been hoping...

 

[Henmyr]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MetalGeek /img/forum/go_quote.gif My pre-ordered Crack the Skye showed up at my door today (it doesn't officially release until tomorrow), and I'm listening to it for the first time right now. No doubt about it, this album is definitely a Mastodon album. For the most part, the riffing actually doesn't sound like that much of a departure from their previous material...it's just not quite as distorted and brutal, the tempo is generally slower, and it's a bit more melodic. The vocals are cleaner, although there's still some growling thrown in here and there. Overall, it's got a much eerier feel to it than their previous stuff, and there's a bit more atmosphere. It's still heavy compared to most mainstream music, but it's a different kind of heavy than most people are probably accustomed to. I would still classify it somewhere in the metal realm. My earlier statement that it may be comparable to Baroness's Red Album isn't actually all that far off...but it's more Mastodon's style. If you're hoping for another Remission or Leviathan, this isn't the place to look. If you're hoping for something distinctively Mastodon, yet still very different than anything they've ever done before, I would absolutely recommend Crack the Skye. My initial impressions of this album are actually pretty good. It's much better than I was expecting, but only time will tell if it's as good as I have been hoping...

I did not have your strength, so I have heard it already

Well, I wasn't at all set on getting it, and had almost given up, but after hearing it, well, it should be here today

I really really like it.

I agree with you that it's still Mastodon, but with something new. It is metal all the way, no doubt about it dough. It's more similar to Blood Mountain than their earlier albums, but still have something from Remission and Leviathan.

The sound quality seems to have stepped up a great deal since Blood Mountain too(which imo was their low in sound quality, too much distortion and clipping).

I don't know yet if it's good or great, but it IS a very solid release, and not a let down for me.

 

[Gazza]

Can't wait. My limited edition pre-order has been shipped and hopefully it's not too far away. Hopefully mine's signed.

 

[ezkcdude]

Well, yet another famous metal band beginning with the letter "M" that I will not be owning their albums after the third one.

This is an awful mess. Sorry, but someone had to say it.

 

[Henmyr]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ezkcdude /img/forum/go_quote.gif Well, yet another famous metal band beginning with the letter "M" that I will not be owning their albums after the third one. This is an awful mess. Sorry, but someone had to say it.

I take it you don't like Crack the Skye? Why is that?

 

[YtseJamer]

The new album is AMAZING

 

[MetalGeek]

Edit: I'm retracting my comments. Sometimes best to keep things to yourself.

 

[MetalGeek]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Henmyr /img/forum/go_quote.gif I did not have your strength, so I have heard it already Well, I wasn't at all set on getting it, and had almost given up, but after hearing it, well, it should be here today I really really like it. I agree with you that it's still Mastodon, but with something new. It is metal all the way, no doubt about it dough. It's more similar to Blood Mountain than their earlier albums, but still have something from Remission and Leviathan. The sound quality seems to have stepped up a great deal since Blood Mountain too(which imo was their low in sound quality, too much distortion and clipping). I don't know yet if it's good or great, but it IS a very solid release, and not a let down for me.

At first I was thinking that the sound quality wasn't all that impressive, but it sounds much better after listening to it a couple times.

I'd love it if they were to release an album with no volume compression. I can't imagine what the drums would sound like!

It was pretty hard to resist listening to it, especially when it was delayed several months from the original estimated release date, but I wanted to listen to the full studio version before forming any opinions on it. They had some samples available on their website for a while (I think it was the Oblivion and Divinations tracks), but I still wanted to hear it in its entirety. One of my favorite aspects of Mastodon's music is that their albums are very cohesive and sound much better when you listen to them from beginning to end.

I agree, at the very least it's a solid release. To be honest, I was pretty scared for a while that I was going to hate it. After all, there's a reason I enjoyed listening to their music in the first place...and I didn't want them to stray too far from it. Luckily enough, they haven't.

 

[Sabrage]

I'm disappointed. It's definitely still Mastodon and by no means horrible, but it's not nearly as heavy as I want it and I hate the new vocal style. I mean, I just wanted Troy to scream a few times and I would be happy.

 

[wovenhand]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MetalGeek /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'd love it if they were to release an album with no volume compression. I can't imagine what the drums would sound like!

In theory that might sound like a good idea, but used right compression is your friend. Atleast in rock/pop/metal.. almost anything not classical. If there was zero compression you'd have to have your hand on to the volume knob constantly.

Btw, I'm talking compression in a mix now - not extreme limiting during mastering.

 

[progo]

I like Blood Mountain a lot. It's one of the few records I've heard that are very 'hard'. The metal is never too metallic. :eviL: