Mastodon - Between the Pleistocene and Spaceships

Within the metal world there are plenty of excellent bands across countless genres and movements, but only a handful of names are truly branded, for better or worse, into the collective imagination right from the start - bands whose fame manages to transcend the metal-listening audience, symbols of the entire scene or of specific eras. For example, the 1970s are immediately associated with bands like Judas Priest, Black Sabbath or Motörhead, while the 80s are the decade in which Iron Maiden, Mötley Crüe or Metallica are thrust into the spotlight. In the 90s, names like Pantera or Dream Theater reach the peak of their popularity, through ups and downs. In the 2000s, and more broadly in the new millennium, one band that deserves, honoris causa, to be considered not only among the most representative but also one of the pinnacles of contemporary metal, comes from Atlanta: Mastodon.

Their music is labelled progressive-sludge-metal by the press, thanks to their unique ability to fuse granite-hard, scorching riffs, virtuosity that always serves the song, epic melodies and an indomitable spirit: like a metallic avalanche or a charge of elephants that, as they draw nearer while you listen, keep growing larger, looming right before your eyes. But it's really from 2009 onwards that the progressive refinements, the hard-rock flourishes and the nods to the 70s grow more pronounced, revitalised to the point of sounding fresh and current. Mastodon's music - wild yet melodic, immediate yet technical, tied to the past yet projected into the future - is a game of contrasts that never actually clash, and indeed this is perhaps the band's most fascinating and memorable trait.
Curiously, though, Mastodon don't consider themselves a metal band. Troy Sanders put it this way to Loudwire in 2014: "We don't think we're a metal band. We admit there's a lot of metal in our music, but we also like to believe there's a lot of rock'n'roll in there, and that we've got a lot of progressive rock, bits of thrash and punk, and a kind of psychedelia sprinkled on top. A lot of the time it feels a bit limiting to be slapped with the metal label, because we really appreciate all sorts of styles and we like incorporating them into our songs. But we also understand that there are all these different subgenres, and the million times people ask, 'oh, what do you sound like?', and you give some answer - I get it. But that doesn't affect at all the way we make music." It's no coincidence that the band's members have, in the past, had experiences far removed from metal - in particular Brent Hinds launched a psychobilly project, Fiend Without A Face.

The band's core came together on January 13, 2000, when drummer Brann Dailor and guitarist Bill Kelliher met, at a High On Fire show, bassist Troy Sanders and guitarist Brent Hinds. The four immediately discovered a shared passion for sludge, a genre born from the meeting of doom-metal and hardcore-punk (in particular, they were fans of bands like Melvins and Neurosis), as well as 70s hard-rock (above all Thin Lizzy, Black Sabbath, Rush). So they formed a band, joined by Eric Saner on vocals, who however left right after a demo due to personal commitments. Rather than replace him, the four decided to split the vocal duties among themselves. Specifically, Sanders and Hinds trade off on lead vocals, while the other two provide backing vocals.

The band's first official release is a 2001 EP for Relapse, titled Lifesblood. Here you can clearly hear both the strong influence of Neurosis and a lineage traceable to Voivod and 90s post-thrash, but above all the contribution of the albums "In The Eyes Of God" by experimental noisecore band Today Is The Day (1999) and "It's Hard To Write With A Little Hand" by mathcore/technical-death-metal outfit Lethargy (1996). That's because Bill Kelliher and Brann Dailor played on both: on the former they were recruited by leader and songwriter Steve Austin (from whom they picked up the most maximalist and "eccentric" traits, which they would later develop in their own way), while on the latter they were actually founding members, contributing to a sound they would later rework by fusing it with sludge. Many of the distinctive traits of early Mastodon are already foreshadowed on the Lethargy record, to the point that Lifesblood sounds almost like a merger of that band with Neurosis.
It's a mini-album that already reveals a solid, mature band, flawless in execution, utterly violent and bestial.

But it's the following year, with their debut LP Remission, that the Georgia quartet crystallises its own style, gathering up 90s sludge-metal and extreme music and condensing it into a brand-new formula. Even the opening track, "Crusher Destroyer", has a title that says it all, and it's introduced by a sample of the roar created for the T-Rex in the original "Jurassic Park", before a sequence of bone-crushing riffs and drumming, as if to make the animalistic nature of the music crystal clear.
It's also a semi-concept album, the first in the series devoted to the four elements, this one centred on fire.
The band's style is plainly more furious and faster than the sludge average. The Americans put their own personal stamp on a style that, to sludge (both the more refined Neurosis strain and the more barbaric one of High On Fire or Eyehategod), adds lethal rhythms derived from thrash-metal (Metallica), technical-thrash (Voivod), groove-metal (Pantera, Nevermore) and post-hardcore (Black Flag), seasoning it all with heavy doses of technique, evocative atmospheres and melodic openings close to 70s hard & heavy. Indeed, throughout their whole discography, their music - especially in the second half of their career - never forgets the legacy of classic rock and early heavy-metal, which they embellish with nods to psychedelia (Hawkwind), southern-rock (Lynyrd Skynyrd) and even the cerebral qualities of progressive-rock bands. The technique is mastered to perfection by every member, but special praise goes to drummer Brann Dailor, who from a very young age trained by studying the masters of prog and jazz, and who often inserts unusual, irregular and complex rhythms into the song structures.
This tribute-like spirit towards the past is blended in with real sincerity, into an intricate, thrilling sound that feels fresh from start to finish. Mastodon's power isn't confined only to the elegant fury they're capable of, but also to the imagery conjured by their name. Their lyrics are often populated by prehistoric, mythological and literary creatures; the atmosphere of their records sounds barbaric and primal, as if the four of them were personally confronting these ferocious beasts.

It's on their second album, Leviathan, their masterpiece and the high point of 2000s metal, that this conceptual depth becomes fully evident. As well as continuing the four-elements series, now moving on to water, the concept album is inspired by Herman Melville's "Moby Dick". The whole record is steeped in a monolithic fury, from Captain Ahab's rage ("I Am Ahab") to the stormy sea waves (recreated throughout the album by the instruments), from the fury of the elements to the frenzy of the White Whale - the "Holy Grail", as the band like to call it in the album's opening track ("Blood And Thunder", simple, nervy and devastating all at once, creating a bittersweet contrast with "Seabeast" that follows, a more contemplative and melodic digression).
The songs become shorter and more direct, with the exception of the epic nearly-14-minute suite "Hearts Alive", an intricate and ferocious ride through tempo changes and lightning-fast riffing. Worth noting too is the guest appearance by Scott Kelly of Neurosis on "Aqua Dementia", fast, relentlessly pummelling and extraordinarily elegant at the same time.
Leviathan is a relentless album and, at the same time, an example of metal that's "thoughtful" as well as heavy. It's also significant and welcome that Brent Hinds and Troy Sanders' vocal performances become calmer and more controlled, making their raw screams cleaner and easier to follow, the better to track the thematic progression of the lyrics, while also helping to make the record feel less "noisy" than its predecessor, without losing any power.

After the album's release, Mastodon embarked on a long tour across North America and Europe with Slayer and Lamb Of God, as part of the Unholy Alliance. This extended run of shows also marked their definitive consecration with audiences, who, through word of mouth, started paying ever closer attention to the Atlanta quartet. The boom of melodic metalcore around this time gave them a bit of a boost too, but Mastodon far outstripped it in terms of innovation and the distinct character of their albums.
Meanwhile, the compilation Call Of The Mastodon closed out their contract with Relapse, gathering tracks from the band's early demos, re-recorded for the occasion. The band consider it their actual third album, because it "sounds different from the previous albums". After that, the Americans were immediately signed by Reprise, a division of Warner.

Their major-label debut represents, for the talented Atlanta combo, confirmation of their mastery and of the innate compositional gifts they possess. Blood Mountain, which introduces the third element (earth), marks a forceful and significant step forward on the evolutionary path Mastodon had set out on. Even more chaotic and maximalist, to the point that the prog sections are perhaps a touch excessive overall, it loses a little compared to the more conceptual and compact Leviathan on one hand, but on the other shows even more bite.
So, while retaining an enviable sense of personality and freshness in their songwriting, the Americans seem to have changed considerably in the span of just two years. First and foremost, the traits tying them firmly to traditional heavy-metal have become more pronounced, with the two guitars now layering "thirds" harmonies, at times weaving truly epic, majestic riffs ("Crystal Skull", which renews the collaboration with Scott Kelly of Neurosis), at times spinning extremely dense, intricate webs (the hyper-kinetic country breakdown in the middle section of "Capillarian Crest"). Drummer Brann Dailor's rhythmic constructions are terrifying, unleashing tectonic shifts non-stop throughout the record, from the opening sticks of the convulsive "The Wolf Is Loose" all the way to "Siberian Divide"; he only allows himself a break in the placid pace of "Pendulous Skin", which features a guest appearance by Ikey Owens, keyboardist of Mars Volta - whose influence, besides this one track, can be heard in the schizoid, savage yet always virtuosic flourishes of colour.
The organic quality of the band's sound now appears freed from the post-hardcore undercurrent that had always loomed large. Faint traces of it can still be spotted in the noise-grind hints of "Bladecatcher", in the impetuous explosions of "Siberian Divide" (which already hints at something of the next album) and "Circle Cysquatch". Troy Sanders tends to colour his vocal lines with more intelligible melodies, impassioned and evocative on "Sleeping Giant" (where 70s progressive-rock is revived in renewed, crisp form), vibrant and gripping on "Capillarian Crest" and "Hunters Of The Sky", taking total centre stage on "Colony Of Birchmen". They even turn soft and weightless in passages of "This Mortal Soil".

Meanwhile, in Georgia, a genuine wave of bands was emerging, each offering their own take on progressive-sludge-metal starting from the lesson taught by Mastodon, then reworked in their own way by various acts formed especially in the city of Savannah and within the artist roster of the Relapse label: names like Baroness, Kylesa, Black Tusk, for instance. But outside Georgia too, various sludge bands (some more psychedelic, some more hardcore, some more hard-rock) rose to prominence or evolved their style toward this genre, such as Torche, Anciient, Red Fang or Lair Of The Minotaur.

Crack The Skye completes Mastodon's elemental quadrilogy, with a concept this time devoted to air and the ether, tackled through an intricate, imaginative narrative encompassing references to the soul's separation from the body, Tsarist Russia and Rasputin, wormhole theory as a passage between dimensions, and the Faustian temptations of the devil. The title is also a personal dedication from drummer Brann Dailor to his sister Skye Dailor, who took her own life at age 14.
The album was composed mainly by singer and guitarist Brent Hinds while he was recovering from a serious head injury, and it further minimises the post-hardcore and post-thrash side, while disproportionately increasing the influences drawn from the less violent moments of early Metallica and from prog-rock à la Genesis and Rush (but to a much lesser degree also King Crimson, mid-period Pink Floyd and Tool). In the process, they also get infected more than usual by the "freak" prog excesses of Mars Volta, a constant presence in their personal quest for a new kind of prog-metal sound. The result is a very varied record, but also not a particularly powerful one, which finds its strength in the quartet's usual impressive, omnivorous technical ability, and its weakness in the lack of cohesion and breakthrough force that sometimes characterises the songs.
The opening "Oblivion" lays out, in brief, many of these strengths and weaknesses: the track opens the record with a swelling, Tool-esque Arabic-tinged guitar melody, detonating into a typical post-thrash verse, but this time with more relaxed rhythms and drummer Dailor on vocals, which in turn clashes violently with an awkward Ozzy Osbourne-style pre-chorus sung by Troy Sanders, and only lifts off again via a melodic opening with a gorgeous, catchy, psychedelic chorus sung by Brent Hinds, closing out with a series of somewhat derivative prog-rock guitar solos. The less original "Divinations", also the lead single, is introduced by a few banjo notes, before revealing a sudden jump in tempo under a verse chugging away on palm-muted guitars reminiscent of the early albums, but once again it evolves toward melodic, catchy pre-chorus and chorus sections, recalling the more emo-core, direct vocal melodies of its predecessor, before adding a stormy heavy-metal solo with Slayer-esque shredding in a cleaner, more bluesy guise.
In truth there isn't a single weak track, and as a whole the record almost never crosses the line into baroque excess (with the notable exception of the muddled closing song "The Last Baron", due to Mars Volta influences stronger than usual, sudden baroque jazz-rock surges that, however, lean a bit too heavily on Rush's "YYZ", and a finale with a blues-prog solo). The true stand-out moments only arrive in the three tracks of the middle section: "Quintessence" strings together a dissonantly sung verse over a machine-gunning guitar melody, airy psychedelic interludes with space-rock synths, an explosive metalcore chorus later turned into an epic declamation over open riffs, a bridge with a new burst of guitar, and a heavy-sludge close. "The Czar", a four-movement suite totalling 11 minutes, is without doubt the album's best moment: a hard-prog intro with atmospheric organ and distorted arpeggios, a slowed-down sludge verse set in a sprawling, dreamlike landscape, which via a distorted jolt leaps into a heavy, catchy chorus electrified by a continuous flow of sonic elements (rumbling bass, vocal interplay between Sanders and Hinds, a succession of dazzling riffs), before unwinding into a shower of solos over open chords and a slower rhythm (briefly introduced by an excellent vocal melody from Hinds), and closing with a reprise of the opening verse, this time arranged in a heavier, more baroque fashion. "Ghost Of Karelia", on the other hand, shows the closest kinship with the less violent, more melodic moments of the predecessor, leaning into sounds that are decidedly more personal and already hinted at by the band in the past, thanks to much denser, technically impressive rhythms, relentless guitar flows, fluid, loose melodies, and aggressive breaks balanced by sudden psychedelic expansions.
The remaining tracks often come across as not fluid enough, too linear and lacking real impact; the "ethereal" concept, reflected in the prog airiness of the compositions and in Brendan O'Brien's stifled production, partly stifles the band's originality, a band that had always expressed itself best through rawer, more anarchic sounds. They try to compensate for this constraint compositionally through further layering and grandiose arrangements, but mentally stripping away the post-production excess, the lesser cohesion and greater superficiality become easy to spot. The songwriting, however elaborate and however well received by critics and fans, is an ambitious experiment limited by less emotional and melodic coherence, and by an overly obvious reliance on past clichés - all flaws brought on by the stylistic shift; this becomes clear when you consider how the moments closer to past albums always convince, while the "new" elements often fit awkwardly into the flow.

In 2011, however, Mastodon once again managed to surprise their audience with yet another stylistic shift. With The Hunter (a title dedicated to guitarist Brent Hinds' brother, who died in a hunting accident while the band was recording the album), the four not only returned to a greater number of tracks, all of them short, but also used more classic structures closer to the traditional song form, cut out much of the prog excess and much of the metal heaviness, and even allowed themselves a few songs in a major key. Mastodon had clearly decided to tone down the most ambitiously prog elements and pay greater attention to melodic flow, writing songs that are far more cohesive, "wild" and fluid.
Each track on The Hunter is a basic synthesis of various traits typical of the band, with an added increased focus on catchiness and melodic hooks. The foundation on which Mastodon chose to build the album isn't prog-rock, nor even sludge, but something further back in time: classic 70s-style hard-rock with warm, bluesy, southern tones; this foundation is then completely transformed through the various grafts of prog-rock, hardcore-sludge and thrash-metal, and made to sound bizarre by Brann Dailor's usual ultra-dense drum work and Brent Hinds' vocal parts, yet it still remains recognisable as such. What makes the album an experiment that, while less ambitious, ultimately proves more successful than Crack The Skye, is that each of its 13 tracks displays tremendous skill in building fluid, cohesive, electrifying songs, thanks to memorable melodies and a great variety of styles.
There are heavy metal rides similar to the early records ("Spectrelight", featuring Scott Kelly of Neurosis on guest vocals, by now a fixture on every record), there are heavy-rock tracks with a futuristic edge (the melancholy "Octopus Has No Friends" and "Bedazzled Fingernails", whose jittery opening riff sounds like bluegrass run through a metal filter, both featuring vocal parts treated with effects à la Cynic), a mix of stoner and hardcore ("Dry Bone Valley", superbly sung by drummer Dailor in the vein of peak Queens Of The Stone Age), heavy-psych ("Thickening", with guitar phrasing between hard-rock and blues and vocal harmonies à la Josh Homme), melodic thrash ("Black Tongue"), hardcore ("Blasteroid"), soft space journeys in a Pink Floyd-esque vein (the slow crescendo of "Creature Lives", "Stargasm" and the dreamy, poetic closer "The Sparrow", somewhere between a power-ballad and a pure ballad).
The Hunter risks being rejected by early-period fans because it lacks the metal heaviness and the more violent instrumental schizophrenia, but it's essential to understanding how Mastodon never gave in to fashionable or trendy musical styles just to make themselves more marketable: they bet everything on conciseness and on their own melodic gift, while staying careful to vary their approach from track to track, never repeating themselves. The turn taken on this album should therefore be classified not as a sell-out, but as a genuine evolution toward different territory.

Mastodon's sixth album, Once More 'Round The Sun, again released on Reprise, reflects both a further stylistic shift and a desire to win over new kinds of listeners beyond the metal arena, but also a personal maturity in the four members, who have never before shown such a consciously positive outlook on life. What Mastodon do here is a modernizing operation on metal, prog-rock and alternative-rock formulas, blending them together in an always inspired and highly personal cauldron, which lets them consistently stand out from their contemporaries and always deliver a satisfying listen.
This time, unlike on The Hunter, the lion's share of the work goes to the arrangements (not just guitars, but also touches of synth and samples in a couple of spots), never so rich and polished, yet at the same time never smothering the songs' final catchiness (as happened in much of Crack The Skye). The record's complexity and wealth of detail are perfectly captured by the album cover, created by Oakland artist Skinner. Indeed, the melodies and the catchy streak running through every track are essential here. As a synthesis of the band's various influences, the album actually works even better than The Hunter, which wasn't as finely chiseled, upbeat and flowing, and it's certainly better than Crack The Skye, where the ambition to build a 70s-style prog concept album had completely taken the wheel. You can still find sludge riffs that recall their older work ("Asleep In The Deep", "Chimes At Midnight" and "Aunt Lisa" with its closing cheerleader chant), which then evolve into "alternative" melodies stylistically similar to the less metal tracks on Blood Mountain. But there are also fusions between melodic hardcore verses à la Hüsker Dü (whose approach to hardcore in the '80s closely resembles what Mastodon have done and continue to do with metal today) and prog-metal excursions, as in the title track and in "Halloween".
Unlike the previous album, there's a certain "distance" between the music and the listener, due to the obsessive care with which the sound was made rich and glossy; despite the greater Pink Floyd-style stretching-out, the sound was more stripped-back and earthbound on The Hunter, whereas here everything is compressed into a smaller space, with more layering and, at the same time, a "dreamlike", hypnotic effect, almost a parallel to the dream-psych-indie that found success over the past decade (with bands like Deerhunter).
Once More 'Round The Sun is also a great example of how you can play prog, and clearly in a 70s style, without "doing" prog: every moment where the songs make room for instrumental passages shows clear influences and tributes to 70s progressive rock, but they move along at upbeat tempos, weave together and dissolve in a lively, quick fashion, and never last a second longer than necessary. This record shows an ability to reabsorb and refresh prog sounds in a much fresher and more convincing way than, say, Opeth's recent output, which lives far more on nostalgia than on innovation. Still, it's impossible not to notice similarities with some of the tracks on The Hunter; this also confirms the idea, stated by the band to the press, that the album is a continuation of its predecessor, albeit with a renewed style.
This time there's also a "fifth Mastodon", producer Nick Raskulinecz, who probably faced one of the toughest tasks of his career, having to balance the orgy of arrangements and polish put on display by the band while also satisfying their clear desire not to sound as heavy as on their early albums, all without losing aggression and power in the process; a very difficult goal, and whether or not he pulled it off largely depends on each listener's expectations.

On March 31, 2017, the Americans released their latest effort, titled Emperor Of Sand. This time the band seems to set aside its versatility and desire to shake things up, as well as its muddier, sludgier streak, in favor of consolidating its more melodic side. The main problem is that the record comes across as uneven, alternating tracks built on a handful of overused ideas (a prime example being the preview single "Show Yourself", a fairly bland radio-friendly hard-rock tune that seems to be aping Tesla) with others that are much more distinctive and expressive (like the other advance track, "Andromeda", or the forceful, evocative "Roots Remain", which partly recalls late-period Baroness).
This time, the most inspired moments seem to be precisely those that open up more to compositional refinement, dense atmospheres and sonic play, while the more straightforward tracks feel less energetic and less adrenaline-fueled than in the past. Unfortunately, the compositional richness and the meticulous attention to arrangement found on previous records are never quite matched here. The vocal performance, too, doesn't sound as fresh and lively as before. On top of that, the radio-friendly production waters down the band's energy. On the plus side, the lyrical side is conceptually simple but poetically evocative: the concept of a man on death row who wanders lost in the desert, reflecting on the nature of man and time.
It's an album that takes several listens to sink in and grows over time, but it may disappoint those looking for experimentation and versatility. That doesn't stop it from flaunting its usual underlying class, even as it shifts from psychedelia to hard-prog, from heavy rock to metal. What's missing, though, are the harmonies, the hooks, the major keys; the more immediate tracks never hit as hard as the band's most forceful, visceral moments. Other bands, like Baroness on their most recent records, started from similar stylistic ideas and developed them better, with more invention and taste. The end result here is something that, in a similar and parallel way, recalls what happened to France's Gojira the year before with "Magma".

In September 2017, Mastodon returned with an EP titled Cold Dark Place. The tracks that make it up all come from the 2014 recording sessions for Once More 'Round The Sun, except for the song "Toe To Toes", which instead comes from their most recent Emperor Of Sand. All of them are Brent Hinds' handiwork: he had initially shelved them, only to later decide to re-record them properly, effectively turning the EP into something close to a solo work of his. The influence of progressive-rock and space-rock is obvious: and even though the creative sparks of the past are missing, the twilight moods help give the record a melancholy, enveloping atmosphere. Meanwhile, the Americans add their own touch of extra psychedelia that makes for a dreamlike listen, even where more frequent echoes of Rush, Pink Floyd-style atmospheres, Iron Maiden-esque harmonies, or stoner attacks worthy of Clutch come to the fore.

Hushed And Grim (2021) immediately presents itself as a monolithic record, played with a level of technical skill well above average, with fifteen tracks spanning eighty-six minutes of music full of sharp, aggressive riffs. It's an album that draws liberally from countless genres without ever coming across as derivative, always managing to feel like an evolution or a personal reinterpretation of the classics it has absorbed (from Rush to Led Zeppelin, from Iron Maiden to Dream Theater).

From vintage, passion-laden solos ("More Than I Could Chew", "The Crux") to hard-psych-rock riffs in the style of Motorpsycho ("The Beast"), from the reckless rhythms of "Teardrinker" to the almost Petrucci-like speed of "Pushing The Tides", the band shows off a by-now well-established style (a massive opening riff, vocals, a solo, then a return to the riff) that shows no excessive, cloying signs of derivativeness, the absolute plague of so many other bands. Across roughly an hour and a half of music, the most memorable moments are nonetheless the typically prog synths closing out "Skeleton Of Splendor", the hard-rock rhythms of "Globbers Of Dregs" and the guitar charges of "Pain With An Anchor", even if listening to the whole LP never gives way to fatigue.

The end of an era, and a rebirth

2024 took Brent Hinds from us. His departure from the band, first announced amid stormy circumstances, was later tragically sealed by a fatal accident that left an unfillable void in the heart of the group and its fans. For twenty-five years, his liquid, visionary guitar playing, his dazed vocal harmonies and his compositional flair had been the perfect counterweight to Bill Kelliher's tectonic heft and Brann Dailor's polyrhythmic fury. Without him, many thought Mastodon's story had come to a close.
Instead, the three surviving members chose the harder path: turning grief into music. Marrow Deep (2026) is the first album without Hinds, and it doesn't try to replace him. With Nick Johnston joining on guitar and João Nogueira on keyboards, the band has expanded its sonic vocabulary, adding layers of psychedelia and an almost symphonic dimension that recalls the great classics of '70s prog. The keyboards drift like clouds, the guitars twist and contort, the rhythms shift shape, and Kurt Ballou's (Converge) production delivers a sound that is at once the heaviest of recent years and the most melodic, the most prog and the most direct.

Contributions by Valerio D'Onofrio ("Hushed and Grim"), Ljós Berinn ("Marrow Deep")

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