It seems fitting that the Atlanta metal gods, known to their faithfully devoted following as Mastodon, will be opening for Metallica this summer because it sure feels like no other pure metal band since Metallica has been this poised and ready to take over the mainstream. The parallels seem to perfectly fit. Metallica started to take over the mainstream with their fourth release, And Justice for All, and Mastodon’s Crack the Skye (also their fourth release) finds them trying to meld metal with mainstream appeal without selling out completely.

                 Early Mastodon fans may be put off a tad by the fact that long-time Pearl Jam and Bruce Springsteen producer Brendan O’ Brien was brought in to helm the overtly clean production for Crack the Skye, and they also might resent tracks such as “Divinations,” selling out for the under-four-minute length radio appeal, but don’t fret metal maniacs: Mastodon still has plenty of tricks up their sleeve. The grinding title-track is a bruising sock to the jaw, and the two, ten-plus-minute epics – “The Czar” and the closing “The Last Baron” – are noodling metal-nerd bliss. While Crack the Skye doesn’t quite live up to their early masterpiece, Leviathan, it is as every bit as good as 2006’s Blood Mountain, and that is enough for me to give this release two enthusiastic devil horns up.