Atlanta’s Mastodon is easily the most critically acclaimed metal band of the last decade. They are the metal band that punk rockers, stuffy Brooklynites and modern hippies are all allowed to unabashedly love. With each subsequent album they release, they keep attracting a wider audience, selling almost 500,000 copies of their most recent album (a huge number in the downloading era). But why them? What does Mastodon have that thousands of other heavy metal bands don’t? The quick answer is that they seem to have the perfect mix of musical ambition and ability to rock, but the long answer is much more complicated.
In terms of the crossover appeal, Mastodon often gets compared to Tool, another band with heavy tendencies that excites the masses and the hipsters. But that analogy does not work very well, because each band has taken a very different path to success. Tool came to popularity in a different time, blowing up just a few years after the explosion of Metallica and grunge. And Tool’s earlier music was much easier to digest. Mastadon has nothing in their discography that seems like it would have as obvious mass appeal as “Sober” and “Prison Sex.” Tool was free to experiment with their sound and churn out newer albums full of ten-minute songs because they developed their audience early. Contrast that with Mastodon’s slow build, culminating last year with their biggest hit to date, “Oblivion.”
While it’s a great song, to be sure, something like this would never make it into regular rotation on WPGU, let alone mainstream radio stations.
Mastodon has never chosen the easy route to success, and that’s one of the best things about them. Their time signatures are often complex — even in their most straight-forward songs, the band is liable to switch from slow and swooning to up-tempo chaos. Their albums come with themes such as Moby Dick and astral projection. Despite all this, they’re one of the few bands out there that can pull off prog rock, earlier Metallica and Melvins-like sludge within the same song. And none of it sounds forced. Last year’s Crack the Skye is a perfect example of how this band can tie bedlam in a bow. On the one hand, the music is dense and unpredictable. On the other hand, it doesn’t feel like any of their songs could have been written any other way.
From the casual listener’s perspective it may sound absurd, but many of Mastodon’s diehard fans have complained that Crack the Skye contains too much singing, that the melodies are too obvious and that too much of the signature sludge has been wiped away. And perhaps the album is more heavy rock and less metal than previous efforts, but just barely. It’s not as if the album is filled with easy hits. Two of the songs, “The Czar” and “The Last Baron” clock in at over ten minutes, and neither is a slow building power ball or full dive into prog insanity. While Crack the Skye certainly takes a more deliberate approach to songwriting and musicianship, no one will mistake this for a Rush album.
As previously mentioned, this band loves a heady concept album, and Crack the Skye takes their opaque storytelling to all new levels. On the surface, the story is about a guy astral projecting from his paralyzed body into outer space and eventually ending up in Rasputin’s body and then some other sorts of heavy mumbo jumbo happens. It’s great that the band is willing to attempt such complex mythology with each of their releases. And while some fans delve deeply into this mythology, it’s certainly not a necessary step to enjoy the album. In fact, despite the dense exterior, this may be the band’s most personal record. The thread of being lost is a dedication to drummer Brann Dailor’s sister, Skye, who committed suicide at age 14. In addition, lead guitarist Brent Hinds was in a serious automotive accident, which resulted in a head injury. The band has cited this event as a turning point for them to create the sincerity and focus of the album.
On most tour dates since its release, the band has been playing Crack the Skye track-for-track to start their sets. Though this shtick should grow tiresome to the band members and the audience, recent live reviews suggest the band makes the album come to life in an incredible way each and every night. It certainly seems like the tethered chaos should be a worthy way to spend the evening.
In the end, maybe it’s not that complicated. When a band works tirelessly to improve their craft, consistently evolves but never abandons their core, and simply just rocks live, who cares why certain people like them?
Mastodon perform tonight at Canopy Club with Between the Buried and Me, Baroness and Valient Thorr. Tickets are still available, and doors open at 6 p.m.