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This Brendan O’Brien-produced album ambitiously pieces together epic metal songs arranged with progressive tempo and key changes. The lyrics unravel a fantastical story about a paraplegic who can only travel out of body. He burns his anchor to reality and is lost in space until getting sucked through a wormhole and into the spirit world where ghosts send him to Tsarist Russia, putting his soul inside Rasputin’s body (who is murdered after trying to usurp the czar). The protagonist’s soul must then fly home while the Devil tries to trick him. The dark and brooding “Oblivion” unfolds with otherworldly sonic textures orbiting around jet fueled guitars, bludgeoning rhythms, and the menacing croons of Troy Sanders and Brent Hinds braiding together on darkened harmonies. The relentless juggernaut that is “Divinations” plays and pounds more fiercely than any other cut here. Scott Kelly of Neurosis fame sings the title track with a blood gargling timbre before “The Last Baron” bookends the album by bringing it all together with weighty closure.

Genres: Rock, Music, Hard Rock, Metal

Released: Dec 03, 2008

℗ 2009 Reprise Records for the U.S. and WEA International Inc. f

or the world outside the U.S.

Tracklist:

01 Oblivion

02 Divinations

03 Quintessence

04 The Czar: Usurper / Escape / Martyr / Spiral

05 Ghost of Karelia

06 Crack the Skye

07 The Last Baron

08 Oblivion (Score)

09 Divinations (Score)

10 Quintessence (Score)

11 The Czar: Usurper / Escape / Martyr / Spiral (Score)

12 Ghost of Karelia (Score)

13 Crack the Skye (Score)

14 The Last Baron (Score)

Digital Booklet - Crack The Skye (Deluxe Street Date)