SoundSnobbing








  • Week #8 Mastodon - Crack the Skye Selected by Marcus Overall Score: 7.8 ______________________________________________________________________________ Marcus’s Review: Creativity/Artistry: 6Talent/Instrument Skill: 9Structure/ Composition: 9Replayability: 5Growth/ Maturity: 8 Average: 7.4 Comment: I have never been a Mastodon fan, but kept seeing this album on top ten lists of metal from 2009 so I thought we should give it a try. Love the Instrument Skill and Talent this band has. The guitars are amazing and the drums do an awesome job of driving all kinds of song changes and abrupt stops without feeling out of place. Not so thrilled with the singers voice, but he’s not awful, just a little too Ozzy-dirty-metal for me. I thought he would be rougher than this so I guess this is their “new” sound from what I have read. The song structures are interesting and all over the map in terms of tempo and key changes, etc. Great solo work. Nice thrash grooves at times. That said, this is not going to be for everyone… Best Songs: “The Last Baron” & “Crack the Skye” ______________________________________________________________________________ Jason’s Review: Creativity/Artistry: 8Talent/Instrument Skill: 10Structure/ Composition: 10Replayability: 9Growth/ Maturity: 9 Average: 9.5 Comment: It took me forever to like their first record, and their second record was just more of the same, so I wasn’t very much interested in Crack in the Skye at first. I picked it up out of sheer boredom of new music and have been listening to it on repeat at work incessantly over the last few weeks. Thick and layered, every song flows together in a rich soundscape of craziness. Definitely less brutal than their early stuff, but I can’t even tell you what that sounds like after listening to this so much. One of my favorite records of the past year. Best Songs: “Oblivion” & “The Last Baron” ________________________________________________________________________________ Alex’s Review: Creativity/Artistry: 9Talent/Instrument Skill: 9Structure/ Composition: 4Replayability: 2Growth/ Maturity: 9 Average: 6.6 Comment:  Like Marcus, I’ve never been thrilled with this band…They’re talented but I’m not a huge fan of the song structure…maybe it’s too “advanced” for a peon like myself.  I just can’t hop on board.  Also, there is BAD metal and then there is metal that I have a hard time getting into and this is the later of the two. Best Songs: No Favorites…all were decent _____________________________________________________________________________

    Week #8

    Mastodon - Crack the Skye

    Selected by Marcus

    Overall Score: 7.8

    ______________________________________________________________________________

    Marcus’s Review:

    Creativity/Artistry: 6
    Talent/Instrument Skill: 9
    Structure/ Composition: 9
    Replayability: 5
    Growth/ Maturity: 8

    Average: 7.4

    Comment: I have never been a Mastodon fan, but kept seeing this album on top ten lists of metal from 2009 so I thought we should give it a try. Love the Instrument Skill and Talent this band has. The guitars are amazing and the drums do an awesome job of driving all kinds of song changes and abrupt stops without feeling out of place. Not so thrilled with the singers voice, but he’s not awful, just a little too Ozzy-dirty-metal for me. I thought he would be rougher than this so I guess this is their “new” sound from what I have read. The song structures are interesting and all over the map in terms of tempo and key changes, etc. Great solo work. Nice thrash grooves at times. That said, this is not going to be for everyone…

    Best Songs: “The Last Baron” & “Crack the Skye”

    ______________________________________________________________________________

    Jason’s Review:

    Creativity/Artistry: 8
    Talent/Instrument Skill: 10
    Structure/ Composition: 10
    Replayability: 9
    Growth/ Maturity: 9

    Average: 9.5

    Comment: It took me forever to like their first record, and their second record was just more of the same, so I wasn’t very much interested in Crack in the Skye at first. I picked it up out of sheer boredom of new music and have been listening to it on repeat at work incessantly over the last few weeks. Thick and layered, every song flows together in a rich soundscape of craziness. Definitely less brutal than their early stuff, but I can’t even tell you what that sounds like after listening to this so much. One of my favorite records of the past year.

    Best Songs: “Oblivion” & “The Last Baron”

    ________________________________________________________________________________

    Alex’s Review:

    Creativity/Artistry: 9
    Talent/Instrument Skill: 9
    Structure/ Composition: 4
    Replayability: 2
    Growth/ Maturity: 9

    Average: 6.6

    Comment:  Like Marcus, I’ve never been thrilled with this band…They’re talented but I’m not a huge fan of the song structure…maybe it’s too “advanced” for a peon like myself.  I just can’t hop on board.  Also, there is BAD metal and then there is metal that I have a hard time getting into and this is the later of the two.

    Best Songs: No Favorites…all were decent

    _____________________________________________________________________________

    Posted 2 years ago.