Mastodonhas taken hold of the leadership of the New Wave of Progressive Heavy Metal. The band's 2006 major-label debut Blood Mountainspun off a Grammy nomination and earned Top 5 Best Album Of The Year nods from Kerrang!, Revolver, and Metal Hammer, and a Top 10 at Rolling Stone. Now Crack The Skye, its fourth original studio album, mines subject matter from czarist Russia and astral travel to out-of-body experiences and Stephen Hawking's theories on wormholes for an unrepentantly heavy aural assault that will shake the heavens.

(Guitar Recorded Versions). Crack the Skye tells a story dealing variously with the art aesthetics of Tsarist Russia, astral travel, out of body experiences, and Stephen Hawking's theories on wormholes. The All Music Guide says the CD "rocks, and hard ," calling the guitar arrangements the "most intricate, melodically complex things the band has ever recorded." Our songbook features note-for-note transcriptions in notes & tab for all 7 songs, including the title track and: The Czar * Divinations * Ghost of Karelia * The Last Baron * Oblivion * Quintessence.

Reigning kings of the early-2000s metal resurgence, Atlanta's Mastodon expertly blended vintage speed-metal riffage, stoner rock's sludgy power, and prog's vision and scope on 2004's acclaimed LEVIATHAN. The band returns even stronger on their 2006 major label debut, BLOOD MOUNTAIN. The quartet's playing remains unquestionably tight, as fierce solos overlay colossal riffs, which are anchored by a rhythm section that is fluid when necessary (as on the ambient prog-metal of "Sleeping Giant") and lock-step perfect when the orders for speed and power are sent down from on high (see "Bladecatcher"). While BLOOD MOUNTAIN is purportedly a concept album (loosely built around the idea of being lost and doomed and at nature's mercy in the great wild, as opposed to LEVIATHAN's overt Moby Dick theme) it's difficult to decipher a clear narrative from the scorched-earth vocals. Nonetheless, a classical sense of grandiosity pervades the album, as the lightning intensity and sheer power of the music take the listener on a bewildering journey. But remain calm, dear listener: Mastodon will get you to the top of the mountain--bloody and beaten, but altogether satisfied.