Skye= Cracked

And there was great joy throughout the land.
I have finally come into possession of the long awaited new album by Mastodon. While it is quite clearly indicative of a somewhat new direction for our Atlantian boys, it rocks no less hard than previous releases. Well, to be fair it rocks a little less hard than previous releases but mostly because of the production (the low end in all of its previous mother punching glory is slightly less predominant) and the pure fact that it seems Mastodon is moving in a slightly more melodic direction.
Now, let me be the first (or rather probably the hundredth) to say that this is in no way a bad thing. In fact, it really serves the album well. One description I have always hated but yet seems fitting here is "mature." Now I don't mean mature like how Ben Folds got mature and stopped singing about how he wants his black t-shirt back and started singing about his kids. I mean mature in the sense that they simply seem more comfortable than ever doing what they do. But they aren't "getting comfortable" and slacking off, they are still quite great. Basically every avenue I go down to describe this record ends up sounding like a left handed sort of compliment. In order to head this potentially harmful path off I will close by saying this- if you already like Mastodon you will probably like this record. If you did not like Mastodon in the past because you wanted more melody you might like this record. If you like music that is loud you will probably like this record. If you are my roommate you will make fun of this album's artwork.

On an entirely unrelated note, I heard a bit of the new Yeah Yeah Yeah's record and I am disappointed. However, I must qualify my disappointment with the fact that I will almost invariably be disappointed with any Yeah Yeah Yeah's release that does not regain the awesomeness of "Man" from Fever to Tell. Updates will be forthcoming on whether this disappointment is fleeting or permanent.