Mastodon - "Oblivion" & "The Last Baron"

To say the least, this does not match up with any other style, genre, or sound of music that I have listened to in years (and maybe ever) but I just can't deny the talent and originality of Mastodon, especially in a genre that in my opinion, is seriously lacking much to talk about.
Their newest album Crack the Skye, definitely needs to be heard at least once by all music geeks, (and I promise not all will like) if only to experience the brute force and full speed, pulsating rhythm's that comes out of every second of this remarkable concept album. I make sure and include the word concept intentionally, because, like with all their albums, the concept is every bit elaborate and salient as the insane music set behind it; in this case, I believe it's about a kid traveling through a worm hole to meet Rasputin, only to enter his body in order to escape being killed and together they will dodge this assassination???? However, when Rasputin is killed, the kids soul manages to escape through a crack in the skye.....
These extravagant concepts can get a little crazy and maybe even silly to some extent but that is who they are and if it's what they need to channel the music that comes flying out of their instruments with such gut wrenching power, then so be it!

I will probably only listen to this for a short time but the last couple of weeks have proved for a nice change of pace from the more subtle, dance, new nu-wave, freak folk, experimental, etc... that is filling up the underground music scene constantly. And don't get me wrong, I'll probably pick TVOTR, Deerhunter, Liars, Animal Collective, M.IA., and of course, Radiohead most days of the week but like is said, since my somewhat out of control obsession with TOOL, Mastodon has been the first prog-rock, heavy metal band to awaken that need for raw power. That being said, for Mastodon, this is really a change of pace for them. They brought Brendan O'Brien to produce the record and I guess you could say it's more accessible than anything to date, with slighlty (I mean ever ever so slightly) slowing things down, focusing more on singing, and even fdisplaying a few traditional guitar solos.

Now, for the two songs> Oblivion is the closest thing Mastodon could have to a radio friendly song and it's also a great way to open up the LP, showing their more fluid, rhythmic and even shows off a chorus that really lightens up the song and at 4:40 when it hits for the last time, the lyrics (below), you've been taken.....

"Falling from grace, cause I’ve been away too long.

Leaving you behind with my lonesome song -

now I’m lost in oblivion."

The Last Baron strectches out to some 13 minutes and in my opinion, it's the best thing they've ever recorded, with every passing second, you seem to get totally ripped apart and when it does finally come, to put you back together, it's downright startling and clearly reminds of a moment in TOOL's The Grudge from Lateralus, where everything comes from so many different directions only to meet and form a sound only few bands are capbable of doing and they both make it seem so easy!