Best metal album of 2009
With only a few weeks away from the end of the year, it’s time to think about a list of the best albums of 2009.
I won’t publish my final list until the year is actually over, but as far as I’m concerned here’s one album that I think dominated all others this year:
Crack the Skye, Mastodon
It’s obvious to me that #1 should go to Crack the Sky, by Mastodon. I can appreciate technical mastery but without melody, however deviant, to me there’s no point. With this album, Mastodon display an amazing mastery of melody and moods while staying 100% metal. Unlike bands like Opeth, the progressive element is completely fused. Instead of progressive chunks alternating with metal ones, the two genres blend seamlessly. Unlike Enslaved’s Vertebrae, which came out last year, the metal is always present even when the songs go into a more atmospheric mood. This is not the heaviest album: the strings aren’t the beefiest, and the drums aren’t the fastest. But really, so what? This album single-handedly proves that metal is one of the most creative genres out there. Whenever someone you know laughs at heavy metal, this is the album to shut them up for good.
The only thing I didn’t like: at 6:00 of The Last Baron, there is a pathetic aping of Yes circa 1974. One wonders how it got past quality control.
They played the album from A to Z last winter, and it was a great show. The songs were integral, except for some of the vocals (which is understandable), and the presence of the band on stage was so powerful and tight that it’s hard to imagine any metal band pulling something similar off anytime soon. Or put another way, they raised the bar so high that this is what you now have to beat. good luck.
