In a recently published interview by Lucem Fero's Welsh interviewer Anthony Morgan, Mastodon vocalist/bassist Troy Sanders talks about Mastodon's fourth studio album, "Crack The Skye", its lyrical content and musical style, its possible release date, King Crimson and Slayer. Several excerpts from the interview follow:
Lucem Fero: Could you provide an introduction to Mastodon's fourth studio album, namely "Crack the Skye"?
Troy Sanders: 'Crack the Skye' has already been written, and recorded. We're very excited about it's actual release; we're more excited about 'Crack the Skye' than we've been about previous Mastodon albums, so we're extremely anxious for its street date to finally arrive. Musically, we're very much into 'Crack the Skye' - we love the album. Many of the tracks have opted towards a more classic rock approach, somewhat. Lyrically speaking, we were able to pen another tale, and weave that tale throughout the whole record. Right now, we're just dying for 'Cra ck the Skye' to be released; people can then hear the album, and we can start performing its material live.
How would you describe Mastodon's working relationship with Brendan O' Brien?
Brendan is amazing, and happens to be a very talented musician - he's great when playing either guitar, piano or keyboards. As far as vocals, and hearing different vocal ideas, are concerned, he has an excellent ear. Brendan was extremely creative with us, and is just a really cool dude. He's funny, and we're very glad that we met him.
In recording "Crack the Skye", Mastodon was particularly interested in cutting a classic rock album. Was there a reason why Mastodon felt that way?
We were finally able to channel really inspirational music, not to mention feelings and overall emotions. The music we wrote began to slightly lean towards a more classic rock vein. An authentic style of music surfaced, and we thought we should really hone in on that, and attempt to write an album which features a kick ass heavy rock 'n' roll feel. For that reason, we focused on that aspect.
You mentioned the likes of King Crimson as being amongst Mastodon's favourite groups. King Crimson are a more progressive act, so is "Crack the Skye" a lot more progressive?
Some aspects of 'Crack the Skye' are extremely progressive I think, but I don't feel it's going to be labelled as a progressive rock album. As far as prog rock goes, we all love King Crimson. Roughly ten years ago, our guitarist Brent introduced me to King Crimson. I've fallen in love with the group, and listen to their material all the time. King Crimson are both amazing, and mind blowing.
What can you reveal about "Crack the Skye"'s lyrical content?
'Crack the Skye''s lyrical content is both broad, and deep. The album's story continues our journey through life, love and the supernatural, and takes the journey into different dimensions. We see whether we can survive the numerous elements, and obstacles, that we will encounter. It somewhat forms a parallel against the path our life and career as a group is venturing upon, and that's how we've penned stories within our past records. 'Crack the Skye' is extremely bizarr e, and extremely deep - anyone who listens will form a different opinion of the album. The record is extremely open to interpretation, with even us in Mastodon having differing perspectives on certain tracks. That's half the reason why we really want 'Crack the Skye' to be issued; as opposed to explaining various aspects of the album, we can just let them listen to it.
Are there much aggressive vocals?
'Crack the Skye' features some heavier, aggressive vocals, but only where we felt a track demanded that... (song plays in background). I can't get enough of this track, right here - this is “Frame by Frame” by King Crimson. You can hear all these underlying sounds, but especially with headphones. You feel as though you've taken drugs, but you haven't - it's that good... 'Crack the Skye' boasts much clean vocals, but additionally much dark vocals. We tried to discover the right patterns, melodies and style that could appropriately match each respective track, and that was the goal we attempted to achieve. We accomplished that goal, I think.
Will any singles be issued in support of "Crack the Skye"?
Yeah, definitely. A single will likely be issued during December or January. 'Crack the Skye' won't be issued until February 2009, I think . We're just waiting for the record company to say which track they feel should comprise the album's inaugural single, and when they wish to issue that single. We can then either agree with their thoughts, or share any thoughts that we have.
To access the entire interview go to Lucemfero.com.
