Song of the Week #33
Some time ago back in early July last year I mentioned on Song of the Week #4 that the Blackening by Machine Head came so close to being the rock album of the decade for the noughties. Close, but no cigar. On this post we’ll jump back more than 10 years to the time of baggy jeans, bad fringes and worse WiFi speeds. My album of the decade (and I’m sure its a choice echoed by many others) was actually an album I despised when I first purchased it. I didn’t like the sound, I didn’t understand what the band was trying to achieve, and it probably wasn’t for another couple of years that I gave the album another go and actually ‘got it’.
They’ve been around for years, and continue to write phenomenal music (2017’s Emperor of Sand was another career highlight), but Mastodon really hit the peak of their powers when they released 2009’s Crack the Skye, which veered away in sound from their 3 previous albums. Much like many of their releases, it is a concept album, and it is in these sorts of records with an underlying theme that Mastodon’s creativity really comes into its own. The operatic and ethereal nature of the album is in itself phenomenal - backed by the fact that they played Crack the Skye start to finish every night of the supporting tour, something which arguably other bands could and should take note of. For me personally, the 4-piece Czar is a masterful piece of songwriting, and the album’s title track hits a fantastic peak at the end of the album before the swansong of The Last Baron.
For those of you that have heard this album before, no doubt it is a trip down memory lane, and for those who haven’t listened to Crack the Skye before, if you don’t get it immediately, come back in a couple of years and you might find you like it!
On a side note, for anybody yet to do their Valentines shopping, check out the store, pick up some merch and a bottle of gin (or 6) for your loved one. Peace x