"More than hinted at with 2006's major-label debut Blood Mountain, Mastodon are not just influenced by progressive rock and metal (past and present), they are creating their own sub-genre of it. The name of their latest album, Crack the Skye, is a tribute to forgotten late-'70s prog-rock oddballs Crack the Sky, masters of the off-kilter but heavy riff. Basically, Mastodon have created an alternative to Dream Theater and Porcupine Tree that's cooler (meaning: less of a female-repellent), more challenging on a sonically experimental level, and, of course, much heavier. But compared to Between the Buried and Me, Mastodon's variation of metal might as well be the one-riff-for-an-entire-album minimalism of Sleep's Jerusalem." - continue reading the entire article on memphisflyer.com