Mastodon C/D ?

I have yet to hear the Lifesblood EP.

I think "Remission" is a really good album, though I don't really listen to it very often, I'm really curious about how that band's going to go in the future.
So far I prefer Today Is The Day quite a bit (the latest album is excellent, despite what all the cronies on the Relapse board will tell you)
However, the self titled TITD is probably my favorite nowadays.

As to that newest Today Is The Day, it really doesn't sound like anything to me: so completely of-itself. Maybe it reminds me a little of some o' those rockin'-er bands in the artsy-industrial English scene in the early eighties (i.e., trying to fuse anguished screaming with elegant piano sounds over a backdrop of skreeeeeech), but only a little. It's also very difficult to get through: I listened to it twice, was really impressed, and am now kind of afraid of it.

OMG. finally i have something to put on when i've already listened to _surrounded by thieves_ 3 times in a day.

(haven't watched the DVD yet, though.)

Maybe Mastodon will help crusty rock critic types to give other 'creative' metal bands a chance - Lamb of God, people!!!!

That's true that movie portrayals of computers are almost always ludicrously inaccurate (at least they always used to be before almost everyone had internet access). I was watching Weird Science on Comedy Central today and thinking the same thing.

I have been informed that a copy of the new Mastodon is on its way to me. Can't wait.

They blew it. No sludge, no doom, no Crusher/Destroyer, no incredible listen-to-the-drummer-play-fills-during-the-entire-fucking-album. Just a lot of cheap Maiden and Slayer imitations.

This is like Cave In following up Jupiter with Antenna.

I'm so bummed right now.

I really wanna hear this.

Mastadon LIVE trumps Mastadon recorded, FWIW.

wait, how could they stop this? :(

(most of this could change by the time the record comes out - who knows if this is the final mix?)

Wait does that sound too pissy?

I think it's interesting how up-front the vox are compared to the other two records - dude seems to be cultivating a Phil-Anselmo-in-Superjoint-guise thing, which is welcome as far as I'm concerned

I wanna see 'em live

lol

no shade on the app, but let's not shit up this beautiful thread with this stuff

I haven't a chord from this group and I apologise (posted this in the ILE thread)

An easy mistake to make.

Revisiting Hushed and Grim for the first time in awhile, it's fucking fantastic. I think it'll stand up as one of the band's best. Doesn't hurt that it ends with an absolutely incredible run - "Gobblers of Dregs", "Eyes of Serpents" and "Gigantium" are all so good.

it's a good one for sure. My only complaint as always is that they should let Brent Hinds sing more. He doesn't have quite as powerful a voice as the other 2 but he sounds cooler. I get burned out on Troy Sanders constant bellowing and Brann Dailor is a bit bland.

Brann barely sang at all on the first bunch of records and now he's all over the newer ones.

agreed, it is fantastic.
out of a random urge, i listened to disc 1 earlier.
absolutely hit the spot.

So I knew a tour with Lamb of God was coming up, but apparently some collaborative music? At least one song with the two bands is due soon:

A flood is coming Mastodon x @lambofgod 9.12 pic.twitter.com/sp4l3Vto6z

— Mastodon (@mastodonmusic) September 4, 2024

Really enjoyed unperson's piece. Gotta dig in to Hushed & Grim.

Looks like Brent Hinds is leaving the band, but they are going to continue on. His guitar and vocals are my favorite elements in their music, so it's hard to see how continuing without him will pan out.

I was about to say, that seems hard to manage.

Agreed, a big loss.

Going back to the early days, I had the impression that he was a difficult person to work with. The amount of singing he's done on their albums has dropped steadily over the years. I don't know if that has to do with his relationship with the band or if he just had fewer vocal lines to contribute. It's been a bummer for me because I like his voice much better than the other two.

Any guesses why he left? The band's statement lacked details (putting it mildly).

Pure speculation of course, but hard not to fill in the blanks without more info…. But Brann posted an Instagram video recently (though, tbf, no idea when it was recorded) and he had a black eye. Given previous things I’ve heard about Brent being difficult, well my mind put the two together. I certainly hope not, but that statement is quite vague.

Hinds has a long reputation for getting in bar fights, saying really caustic shit in interviews, etc., etc. I'm surprised he lasted as long as he did; he seems like a fairly self-destructive guy. (Societal evolution be damned — face tattoos are still a giant red flag, sorry.)

https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/181009175133-post-malone.jpg?q=x_265,y_178,h_2246,w_3991,c_crop/h_833,w_1480

Pretty amazing run by these guys. I grew up with Troy’s little brother. Got to see them at really small venue in Athens around 2003. They let my friends band, General Patton and the Unicorns, open for them.

Reading a lot of posts on Reddit, it sounds like Brent has been pretty openly losing interest in the band for many years, so I guess this was due. It'll be interesting to see what they do next.

I saw them at the tiny Glasgow Cathouse the week Leviathan came out.
xp

Troy's my favourite singer in Mastodon, not sure if that's a common opinion.

Probably just pure coincidence, but Jéssica Falchi, guitarist from Crypta announced Monday she was leaving the band but that she'd see fans "on the road" soon. Then later that day she posted a video on Facebook of her playing "Megalodon".

she is an absolutely killer guitarist and had a great live presence in Crypta. sucks she left that band to be honest but would certainly look forward to her being in Mastodon if it did happen.

Yeah she's great and I like her a lot, don't think I would have considered her for Mastodon before I saw that. But now, it wouldn't be the worst move they could make (especially since I saw people on reddit kicking around Zakk Wylde joining).

They just played a show with Ben Eller, a guy who makes guitar tutorial videos on YouTube, subbing in.

wow, i used to watch that guy, good for him!

Oh wow, Brent Hinds was killed in a car accident yesterday. Obviously a troubled guy and I'm still not sure what went down with his exit from the band, but a really sad ending.

terrible news, he was my favorite part of Mastodon

RIP Brent Hinds

hadn't he recently announced that he was joining or forming another band?

Sad news

Man, I’d seen multiple headlines throughout the day and not investigated as I wasn’t ever a huge fan of Mastodon but I didn’t realize until now it was THE guy

that's terrible news. i didn't stick with them through the years, but remission and leviathan are tremendous records. in my early days of trying to understand metal as a complete outsider to it those records were really important to me.

yeah -- I checked out around the time of Crack the Skye but Leviathan esp. was a real moment, I saw them on that tour (they did an encore, which they said was rare, and played Thin Lizzy's "Emerald") and the feeling that they were heading someplace big was palpable

There's an argument to be made that Leviathan is the best metal-qua-metal album of the 21st Century.

xxxpost - earlier this year the band announced they were parting ways with Hinds by mutual decision, but later he started posting these screeds on social media about them firing him. he was, by a lot of reports not in a good headspace, which makes this all the more sad. aiui he was about to tour Europe with one of his side project bands.

those of y’all that checked out early should really play Hushed and Grim, the latest, it’s not on the level of Remission or Leviathan (nor is it meant to be really), but tons of great songs. Brent sings lead on “The Beast”, which hit hard on another spin tonight

Yeah, H&G is really good. I saw them on the Crack the Skye tour with High On Fire and Converge. It was the only “band plays the whole album” show I’ve ever seen and it ruled.

It is a rather shocking end and one that the wounds will never heal. It is tough when a long running group comes apart in strife and ill feelings that sadly will never have any other resolution.

Say one thing, they were a band that went from the basement/garage to playing some of the biggest stages in the world doing their own thing. Whether you dig their music or not, that is somewhat notable.

Mastodon were a big ILM band, I learned about them here and they were discussed quite a bit.

RIP Brent.

that my ATL-based parents were aware of it and texted me because they knew i saw mastodon over a decade ago [during their "our son only listens to bands with animal names in them" phase] - he clearly hit when it was meant and mattered.

Not that they need it now, and basically never did, but here's my 2007 Collegtown alt-weekly defense and celebration of them, when some metal purists were like, oh they're bringing the trendies in, they're not really metal anymore and never were: https://mycolone.blogspot.com/2025/07/mastodon-polymathic-rawkissers-of.html They were coming to town, Columbus OH, so I took the opp.

Remission - Leviathan - Blood Mountain - Crack the Skye was an incredible, incredible run.

This might sound weird, but every time I saw Mastodon after 2010, their live mix was abysmal. Trebly, not heavy, kind of quiet. Even as recently as the Hushed & Grim tour.

truly amazing first 4 albums. I saw them play the pitchfork fest in Chicago right around Blood Mountain and it was easily one of the biggest highlights of the whole thing.

The only album they put out since then that seemed weak was The Hunter, I'd say the rest are all very solid.

That said, they all lean way more toward hard rock than straight up metal, if that is a dealbreaker for you.

so bummed about this. crack the skye is such a brilliant record.

and i feel what made mastodon great was the balance between the four of them

That's true, though I also thought that Brent was more equal than the rest of them, and was bummed that his voice in the band seemed to shrink in the post Crack The Skye years

A Facebook post from Mikael Åkerfeldt of Opeth:

"Brent Hinds is gone. An incredible musician. A force of nature. Our friend. My friend. I got the news today from the Mastodon boys as I was having coffee with my mother and her partner. They’re talking about their plans for the upcoming weekend, but I couldn’t really hear what they were saying, to be honest. I was (and still am) overwhelmed by shock. I reached out to the boys in my band delivering the tragic news and my phone has been buzzing every 10 seconds since. There’s so much to be said about Brent. We’ve spend so much time together with him on the road. I like to think we got to know each other quite well. Brent demanded attention (and got it) every time he stepped into our dressing room or bus, which was quite often, I'd might add. Fred and him would jam backstage. I’d keep an eye on him/them and their usual tour-shenanigans to the point where Brent started calling me ”Dad”, and I was calling him ”Son”.

I have so many memories of him, most of which I can sum up as ”good times”. We often talked about stage nerves. How nervousness can be good, but also, if bad, how it can hinder your performance. The latter sensation manifested itself as a fictional person: ”Peter”. Brent would go: ”Peter was on stage tonight, and that fucker sucks ass” when he had a bad show.

It’s too soon to grieve I suppose, this hasn’t sunk in at all. I only just heard about this tragedy 5 hours ago. It’s beyond devastating, and judging from what’s being said on our private Opeth group-chat I know I can speak for the whole band.

The ”Dad-Son” thing stuck over the years. I last saw Brent when he came to our show in Atlanta (October 22, 2024). He walks in and goes ”What’s up Pops?”. It’s a very, very bright memory but it makes me numb with sadness right now, thinking about it.

We’d like to offer our warmest and most loving condolences to his family and friends, colleagues, fans, and of course to the whole Mastodon inner circle. The incredible band that was instrumental for making us and the world aware of the phenomenon that is Brent Hinds. Note that I can’t write about him in past tense just yet. He still ”is”.

I’ve included a photo of myself and Brent from our last tour together. I fail to remember where it was taken, but I remember we're singing along to Van Halen’s ”5150”. Right there, is exactly how I will remember him. Always.

Brent Hinds, rest in peace.

Love from your friends in Opeth

Mikael Åkerfeldt, August 21, 2025"