Hal Leonard Releases TAB songbook <em>Crack the Skye</em> for Mastodon Fans

Hal Leonard Corporation has just released a Guitar Recorded Versions songbook for Crack the Skye, the latest album from Grammy-nominated heavy metal band Mastodon. Note-for-note transcriptions in standard notation and tablature for all the songs on the CD are also available for download at the company's popular website: www.GuitarInstructor.com. Mastodon drummer Bränn Dailor has said that Crack the Skye tells a story dealing variously with the art aesthetics of Tsarist Russia, astral travel, out-of-body experiences, and Stephen Hawking's theories on wormholes. Critics have hailed the record, which was produced by Brendan O'Brien and released on Reprise. The New York Times notes its "ambitious vision and vivid execution," and the All Music Guide says the CD "rocks, and hard!", calling the guitar arrangements the "most intricate, melodically complex things the band has ever recorded." Mastodon guitarists Brent Hinds and Bill Kelliher grace the September cover of Guitar Edge, the first issue since Hal Leonard re-launched the magazine as a multimedia resource for guitarists. The Guitar Recorded Versions songbook for Mastodon's Crack the Skye (HL00690989, ISBN 1-4234-8044-9) features exact transcriptions for all seven songs, including the title track and: "The Czar," "Divinations," "Ghost of Karelia," "The Last Baron," "Oblivion," and "Quintessence." The tab book retails for $22.99 and is available at music stores nationwide. Guitarists can also download legal, accurate tab for all the songs at www.GuitarInstructor.com for $0.99 apiece.