Classical Composer Reacts to Oblivion (Mastodon) | The Daily Doug (Episode 260)
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- Опубликовано: 7 ноя 2021
- #Mastodon #MastodonReaction #Oblivion
In this episode of #TheDailyDoug, I'm listening to music by Mastodon for the first time. We're listening to Oblivion, a song from their 2009 album Crack the Skye. I was impressed with the band's sound...and I was quite moved by the tragic backstory to the song. I hope you enjoy the breakdown!
Reference Video: • Mastodon - Oblivion
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Crack The Skye should be enjoyed as a whole. The album is meant to be listened to in one sitting. It's amazing.
Definitely. I used get home from school, lay on my couch and listen to the whole album uninterrupted, great way to de-stress.
I saw them live right after Crack The Skye came out, they played the entire album start to finish. One of the greatest concerts of my life, also Between the Buried and Me opened for them so that was fucking amazing too
If you can find the import version with the studio version and a full instrumental version. It's absolutely incredible!
As an album should. It’s a lost art, making an entire collection of songs that blend into one another.
Agreed. Always an album I go back to for a listen... then I leave it for a year and come back again.
Mastodon's tag-team of vocals is such a brilliant element in their music, as this song shows: Brann sings the verses, Troy sings the pre-choruses, and Brent is in charge of the choruses. Vocal harmonies by whomever whenever. Quite splendid.
Not a dig at mastodon at all( they are in my top 5) but they seem like a band that couldn’t find a singer and said “Fuck it we can sing” and it was just perfect .
It's one of my favorite things about them
Wasn't Scott Kelly also on this song? know he at least did vocals on crack the skye (the song). It's hard to know sometimes as I think Kelly can sound like both Troy and Brent at times.
@@matsskaugard803 not on this one, but on the title track, yes. And I agree.
@@biff2k2 That's pretty much what happened. Their original vocalist dropped out right before one of their early tours and Brent and Troy just said fuck it and they both did vocalists since no one really wanted to do it
10:30 You'll find that plenty of Mastodon's material is inspired by the band members' personal tragedies and losses. Crack the Skye is about Skye Dailor, the album The Hunter was named so after guitarist Brent Hinds' brother died in a hunting accident, the album Emperor of Sand is a whole bunch of allegory and metaphor about the fight against cancer because guitarist Bill Kelliher's mom died of it and bassist Troy Sanders' wife was diagnosed with breast cancer. And their latest album Hushed and Grim was inspired by the passing of longtime friend and manager of the band Nick John
Great summary.
This. Great comment.
Perfectly explained.
It is a tribute to Skye but a lot of the lyrics come from brents near death experience after Shavo from System of a Down punched him (concussion)
@@brendan25 nah, all the lyrics are a storyline about Rasputin guiding the lost soul of a depressed child with a broken body - it’s a direct allegory to Skye’s battle with depression that ended in her untimely death. Brent’s concussion was what got him the painkillers he wrote a bunch of his parts while looped out on, that’s almost entirely the contribution from his injury
Oblivion is a good song, but The Last Baron is definetly their Magnus Opus. Truly a masterpiece of a track
That and The Czar!
@@mattygainesville this whole album tbh
Definitely The last baron, but Jaguar god is no slouch either.
Hearts Allive👍
*Magnum
Oh, I would've wished for a reaction to the real prog epic of this album (The Last Baron). It's got so many twists and turns. Oblivion is a great introduction to Mastodon though.
I love The Czar aswell. It has a real solid theme through it. It is my favourite piece melody and mood wise but the Last Baron is equally awesome in it's own way.
@@TriviumHunter Actually The Czar was the song I first fell in love with. It was my favourite track on the album before I really "got" The Last Baron.
Full album front to back is the only way.
@@petrilampela That's interesting to hear, friend! When I was younger, I usually didn't listen to either of the songs, I wasn't as patient nor didn't really understand music that well. Mostly blasted "Oblivion" and "Crack the Skye through my MP3 player 😄 I saw Mastodon back in 2009, Pori Sonisphere festival. The band was awesome but the mixing was fucked. I could only hear the roaring bass, barely anything else. >_
@@TriviumHunter I was kind of opposite, never got into the shorter songs on the album but those two stood out. But I had been listening to prog almost for 20 years when I first heard Mastodon and this album. Tool's Lateralus was my favourite prog metal album at the time (and still is) and I was so happy to finally find a new band to admire (almost) as much.
This song is about the drummer’s young sister Skye dying when they were little kids. The lyrics “I tried to dig a hole into the ground” are very powerful and very sad ‘cause Brann stated that is something he actually tried to do as a kid to rescue his little sister from the grave.
Doug’s comments at the end shows how he understands the back story and the depth of it.
Marco, listen till the end and he says this.
Marco is correct and to add to that Brann's sister committed suicide
This kind of thing is why metal can't die. Because it's the last major music genre that really accepts this sort of pain and processes it into a healthy atmosphere. This song is raw pain, but it's not depressing. It's a healthy form of grief.
I never knew that, that's heavy
I sincerely hope that this is the start of going down the rabbit hole with Mastodon. I sure would enjoy a reaction to the album "Emperor of Sand" from beginning to end!
I'm sorta like in this boat. I've always would listen to Mastodon songs from friends playing them, etc. always dug them, never dove into that hole. Now I'm head first into every album start to finish. Only thing I'm disappointed in is I didn't do this 15yrs ago and seen them live back then, but doing so now!
I'm jealous of Doug for hearing Mastodon for the first time. Tumble further down this rabbit hole, you won't be disappointed.
They're an interesting band. There really isn't a lead singer - in almost every song more than one guy will sing lead at some point. Here Brann sings on the verses, Troy on the bridge, and Brent's voice is clearest on the chorus. And Brann is an AMAZING drummer.
Brann's vocals have only gotten better with time too, he sounds amazing in Teardrinker on the latest album.
@@MystFGO They only started this trifecta on Crack The Skye. Until then it nearly all Troy on lead vocals with Brent here and there.
drummer is Bill Bruford in metal format
Bill always gets left out...the riffs...all him, the man is a genuis.
@@alistairclifton1286 Bill is the man. A friend of mine got me an autographed picture of him and said he was super cool in person.
Crack the Skye is by far, in my opinion, their best album. Flows the best to me. Divinations and The Last Baron are my favorites!
The new album is really good too…
Same here. The only one which I can listen to from the beginning to the end.
I think it has some of their best songs (Oblivion, The Czar, The Las Baron), but the one that flows better is Leviathan.
@@YannickTMessiah Leviathan is one of the greatest metal albums of all time. It’s up there with Masters of Puppetses and Lateraluses of sorts
@@realoleg Yes, I agree, it's a landmark
The title track of this record is the most heartbreaking song in their discography in my opinion. It dives super hard into Skye's story
And Scott Kelly of Neurosis absolutely kills the vocals on that track. Supposedly he had a picture of Skye in the vocal booth and he meditated on it and talked with Brann and his father about their memories of her and then he poured massive amounts of emotion and pain into his performance. Sooooo powerful.
"ignorant bliss, impending doom" :'(
Sometime around 2006, I was talking metal with a stranger. He asked if I was into Mastodon, and I said I'd heard of them, and maybe heard some stuff on Sirius radio. He told me to get their stuff because "they might be the most important band for our music right now." That stuck with me. I've loved watching them evolve since that day.
My grandma called it death metal lmao
When he said Troy sounded like Ozzy, I was like “wait until Brent!” ☺️
Mastodons first 4 studio albums are roughly all concept albums. Fire/Remission, Water/Leviathan, Earth (Blood Mountain), and Aether(Crack the Skye). Regarding your read on the lyrics, the concept of Crack the Skye was a bedridden child learns astral projection to deal with the isolation of their life, projects themselves too far re: the too close to the sun allegory, and loses themself. Simultaneously, their spirit is pulled in by Rasputin and other mystics from his time in an attempt to prevent his assassination.
I'd say Leviathan, as an entire album, is their Magnum opus, but Crack the Skye has two of their strongest songs ever, The Last Baron and The Czar
Perfect summary, well said. I concur about leviathan being the magnum opus
Their new album "Hushed and Grim" is also amazing
Mastodon is the truth in metal/hard rock today.
Every album is a unique auditory experience and it's hard for folks to categorize them as they play what they feel with incredible skill at each position, truly one of the best bands ever and growing with every new outing.
This album, this is there masterpiece. deserved of a repeated listening to from top to bottom MULTIPLE times.
Even in rock in general if you ask me, they are one of the best of all times
@@emmaphilo4049 100%
I'm not sure that Mastodon is "today" anymore really
They're easily one of the greatest post 2000's heavy metal bands. And the transitions in sound that they've gone through are fantastic. Even with 1.5 million monthly streams on Spotify, I find them seriously underrated. Their new record is friggin' beast.
Had to comment Doug to show my appreciation of this review and especially the monologue at the end; showing your research, your empathy and humanity. I have always loved this album and I am sitting here in tears as you honour the memory of Skye Dailor and we all stop her slipping into Oblivion.
Great comment.
Same
You've got to do more Mastodon now, I really enjoy the analysis and hearing what you have to say.
I’ve recently discovered Mastodon, and they’re amazing. Would love to see more of them on the channel.
Same here
I encourage people to go see them live. It's a fantastic experience
@@Smunchnuu I second this. I'd only heard oblivion and loved it, but after the live show I love a ton of their stuff.
This album was about the drummers little sister that tragically died of suicide at the age of 14. This song is powerful to me. I lost a friend to suicide 3 years ago, I was out drinking and he hit me up. I told him that I was busy. I never heard from him again. I still to this day feel so much pain. This song is where I go to escape. It's the only thing I can relate too.
That's sad.
you suck
The fact this is about the drummers guilt of his sisters suicide and attempt to dig into her grave as a child is heart breaking and haunting. Such a beautiful song filled with agony and horror.
The drummer is phenomenal. A few drummers I worked with love him.
Good that you're getting into Mastodon. I'd definitely recommend anything from either the Leviathan or Blood Mountain albums. They're a fascinating band, musically and lyrically.
To me this is their best album, it can be listened through and interpreted as a single song and it works beautifully. They also released a instrumental version of this album as well. Seeing this performed live as one long song was definitely a bucket list moment. 🦣🦣
They also do weird cool stuff like how for their first 3 albums they closed out each album with a beautiful instrumental song dedicated to Joseph Merrick aka The Elephant man
Remission - Elephant Man
Leviathan - Joseph Merrick
Blood Mountain - Pendulous Skin
seen it, awesome.
My favorite album from the band. It’s a “concept album” loosely based around astral-projection and Rasputin and the Russian Tsar and all kinds of wild stuff. It’s their fourth album and the one where they started to get more “proggy”. I think the “The Czar: Usurper/Escape/Martyr/Spiral” and “The Last Baron” are the most fitting for the Daily Doug.
Oh and I also think you’d appreciate “Hearts Alive” from the Leviathan album.
Enjoyed that and glad that you’ve begun your Mastodon journey!
Really appreciate the content, Doug! Love your thoughtful approach and dissections as well
The Ozzy comparision was curious, since it's usually Brent that is commonly associated with Mr. Osbourne's tone, not Troy.
The album is an homage to Brann's sister, but it goes way beyond that on its concept (including astral travel, out-of-body experiences and an encounter with Rasputin in Tsarist Russia). Mastodon's earlier works were all concept albums, each roughly based on a natural element. The one represented in _Crack the Skye_ is the element of "aether". No wonder it's their most progressive and psychedelic album. It's their masterpiece if you ask me.
As many others have commented, the two mini-epics on the album _The Czar_ and _The Last Baron_ are both must listens. But I'd also recommend _Ghost of Karelia_ for its interesting song structure (and Troy's amazing vocals) and the title track, which has emotional growled vocals by Neurosis' Scott Kelly (not to mention Brann singing lead again in a song that directly references his sister).
Thanks for the immensely detailed and thorough breakdown of one of my all time favorite Mastodon tracks!
Keep up the great content.
Thank you SO MUCH for including Mastodon! Looking forward to any and all future reactions to them from you.
I like how you dug into the lyrics, really appreciated. Thanks for this episode.
Really insightful reflection on grief and loss, Doug. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Amazing reaction!! Happy you did this!! Hopefully more to Come from Mastodon. They have so Much interesting stuff!!! Thank You ! Thank you ! Thank You!!!
Love your reactions and the way you analyze it all as a great composer you are Sir! A really big Brazilian fan of yours here!
As a huge Mastodon fan it's always fun to see people's reaction to thier amazing music! Thanks for the video.
Great reaction, and we’ll done doing your research. You really dug deep into the meaning. One of the better reactions to this song I’ve seen. Keep it going? More MASTODON!
Good video! Please, continue with the rest of songs of this masterpiece.
They’re an absolutely FANTASTIC band. I hope you do some more of their songs on The Daily Doug!
Just discovered your channel. Love it. So many of the reaction videos don't actually explain any of the musically theory. So thank you for that!
The Czar and The Last Baron are better tracks off this masterpiece of a record, hope you check out them. But my actual recommendation is (still) Agalloch - The Shadow of Our Pale Companion which is such a great track and you haven't touched any (atmospheric) black metal / folk metal. So please check that one out and hear one of the greatest build ups in metal.
Ghost of Karelia also!
I really like Divinations
Any time I hear Agalloch references I have to agree and add Fjara by Solstafir. Great stuff all around!
@@jamesg872 My grandfather knew some ghosts of Karelia! Finnish immigrants that left the US for the USSR during the Great Depression to work in Karelia! One letter asking for mittens, and then nothing else.....
The Last Baron kinda drags for me, but I dig The Czar. And In the Shadow of Our Pale Companion is a genuine 5/5 track. One of my all-time favorite tracks from one of my favorite bands. Agalloch have so many excellent songs.
I would love it if this album became an extended reaction!! It’s such a complete package and kicks so much ass.
Great song. Great band. It's interesting that you pointed out the lyrics and the deeper meaning behind them, specifically in the pre chorus, "How can I tell you that I've failed?" because the answer to that question has been answered in a lyric from the first single "Pushing the Tides" off their new album, Hushed and Grim. So since you've enjoyed Oblivion thus thoroughly, you might see the connection there that they've come full circle in that regard and that healing remedy of expression in the music so openly and honest, well it works. Thanks for all of your insight. Peace and tranquility, - CodemaN
sensitive analysis about a very beautiful and powerful piece of music, thank you!
What a beautiful breakdown of this song. This whole album once you learn the back story is just a gripping ride.
I'm so glad you reacted to this great song, and over a year ago, no less!! Awesome!! Amazing song. 🙌🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻
Mastodon!!! The selection getting better each time!!! Love your channel 😍
Dude. You’re killin’ it. Way to put things together. 👍
I love the read in you do. I’ve started doing it for each song I learn now. Great habit
Very insightful. Thank you for doing the research. I knew there was a lot of tragedy surrounding the band from seeing the documentary ….very unfortunate. I can sympathize because there are people in my life that were so important to my being and they aren’t around anymore because of cancer.
My condolences to them and to people who are suffering from these terrible parts of life that happen to everyone.
Yes, yes, yes, finally Mastodon!! I've been waiting for you to get around to them. Definitely a great band to react to on metal Mondays, with all their prog elements, heavy riffs, and a huge catalog. I look forward to the next one 🤘
I'm so glad you were introduced to Mastodon Doug! 'Ovlivion' is my favorite Mastodon song and 'Crack the Skye' my favorite Mastodon album. Their music is often so deep and multi faceted, and gives comfort in the listeners own grief and sorrow.
Powerful video. The quote, “what is mentionable is manageable” particularly moved me, because I’m coming to terms with realities about my childhood and stepfather that I had never known before, all of which have been strange and awkward to talk about. Even the theme of oblivion is also powerful, because I feel like some of the memory and image that I had held him up to is a little tarnished and has to be let go.
Really fantastic video. Good job. I'm now a follower.
Great analysis of a great song!
I have a feeling Mastodon will be talked about and appreciated well into the future. My top 5 for sure!
bro i'm a huge mastodon fan but i definitely was not aware of the story about brann's sister and you telling that story seriously had me tearing up thats so rough. and this is one of my favourite songs by them and now it has a much much deeper meaning. thanks for being awesome doug!
Their new album is amazing! Deals with another loss within the Mastodon family. Definitely a more mature side to them musically. A captivating listen for sure. Check it out! Hushed and Grim is the album.
The fact that every member of this band does vocals is what really makes them unique not to mention the music both instrumentality and vocally is incredible!!
Cool video. This song is immensely powerful. Classic
Such a great Reaction video... youve taught me more than I knew about Bran, probably my bad for not feeling like needing to deep dive and just enjoy heh; but this was great for when Im in the mood for hearing impressions on my fave songs. Love hearing others ideas.
I love watching people experience Mastodon for the first time. Takes me back to the first time I heard them and helps me get those goosebumps again.
Oh this is gonna be amazing!
Mastodon is one of those bands you can't pin down to one genre, and for a band that started in 2000, they bring back memories of the early 80s. Glad you found them 🙂
I saw Mastodon and Trivium warming up for Iron Maiden in Oslo in 2003. What a concert that was!
Love mastodon. Great review sir
Yieep ! Very intense song.
So cool that you have enter the Mastodon Univers. I am a "fan finit" from the beginning, this band have a huge evolution from the start until today whit there last album "Hushed ans Grim" who is full of treasure and pleasure. Great performance live to, i had never miss those guys went they come to Montréal.
I love that band, they live on the top of my neverending list of groupes. 🤘✌
I have listened to Mastodon for years. Love them.
Please do a deep dive of this entire record!!! This is the best rock album of the last 20 years, easy. Your analysis on this record is totally needed. I’d become a patron or whatever to see that
Really appreciate his applying music theory and also delving into and understanding the lyrics. The Mr. Rogers reference. Yes!
You have a new subscriber. My son has a music degree and I played bass for years; we discuss music together much like he does here.
Great video!!…OBLIVION is the song that made me OBSESSED with Mastodon!🤘🏻
YES, DOUG!!! More Mastodon, PLEASE!😃😃 This is EPIC!
That whole album is just a musical masterpiece. The way the songs are ordered is just sublime. Followed up by once more around the sun .it was a fantastic time to be a metal and music lover.
15 days ago I discovered mastodon and I can't believe I had never heard it, incredible band!
First timer, now subscribed. Invoking Fred Rogers made me click the button!
Well done!
Wow.. Hell of a story Doug. Excellent Mastadon Monday! 😜👍
Excellent track to start falling into the Mastodon hole, dig deeper into that band backwards and forwards in time. I still get shivers in the chorus, even after all these years. Their new album is pretty much beyond everything.
You should continue with this whole album. Many regard it as their masterpiece. I’ll admit when I got this CD it didn’t leave my car stereo (single cd slot) for like two years!
Thanks for the backstories ✌️🙏🤟🏻
As soon as the intro drops his face completely changes. I had the same reaction to this song the first time I heard it. Mastodon is literally in a league of their own. Life changing
How I like when smart people react to the Art! Thank you!
Amazing reaction
The Czar (Tzar) and Seabeast have the best riff from whole Mastodon's discography!
Time for a Mercyful Fate Monday, I'd say. Try "Night of the Unborn".
Or King Diamonds Black Horsemen
Crack the Skye is a masterpiece. Thank you for this! Hope you'll enjoy other albums!
can't wait for more mastodon!
Everything Mastodon does is a journey. Absolutely phenomenal.
I've heard this song tons of times and I never knew the back story of his sister that really adds an amazingly heavy feeling to the song.
Mastodon is one of my absolute favorites. Every album is so unique from the next. Would love to see your take on Between the Buried and me!
Hey Doug! New fan, long time audiophile. I'd love for you to hear about King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard! They use a massive variety of musical devices, alternate tuning, and psychedelic approaches. Their discography started with mostly surf rock leading into a very wide genre of rock. Over time they've developed their harmonies in beautiful ways, they use polyrhythms and polymeters, microtonal tuning, and intense attention to detail. A good place to start would be "Crumbling Castle" from their album Polygondwanaland. But their most recent album (Butterfly 3000) has such a unique approach it's crazy.
YES!!! This is my favorite Mastodon album.
Love that Mastodon has three singers and they are all unique. Great band.
Incredible backstory to a song that is incredible and powerful even without that knowledge. You can't do enough Mastodon videos!
Seeing guitarist and vocalist Brent Hinds' reaction to this would be amazing
I would definitely come back to see a react video to the entire album
This is one that I’d love to see a whole album reaction to. I understand why you can’t. This album changed my whole life
I love the guitar harmony in the chorus section.
I appreciate how you react over the top of the song more than most reaction channels
One of the greatest modern metal bands
Great review. Brann is my best friend and his sister was an angel. One of the worst nights of my life as I was with her that night. Is rochestarians (Greece peeps) are very proud of him and what he’s pulled through! Keep up the phenomenal work Doug.
*us
Crack the skye is my favorite album from mastodon, and oblivion is my favorite song off of it. Such an ethereal and epic song, the guitar work and the drums especially are incredible.