MASTODON

CREATED AS THE BAND WAS BOTH REELING FROM LOSING THEIR LONGTIME FRIEND AND MANAGER NICK JOHN AND COOPED UP DEALING WITH THE GLOBAL PANDEMIC, MASTODON'S “HUSHED AND GRIM” DEALS WITH THE GRIEF AND GUILT THAT COME IN THE WAKE OF DEATH.

- Charlie Connell

Throughout the history of heavy music, most bands end up following a similar pattern. A band will break onto the scene with some innovative work in their first couple of albums, settle into a sound and, if we’re being quite honest, continue releasing albums with diminishing returns until they are finally relegated to the state fair circuit “playing the hits.” Not Mastodon.

The genre-defying four-piece will not go the way of their namesake that called it quits toward the end of the Pleistocene epoch. Over the course of two decades, the band have found a way to break the mold with each successive album. Mastodon could never be accused of being afraid to take a chance—their second record was a concept album based on Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick”—and for their eighth studio release they attempted something they swore they would never do: record a double album.

The aptly titled “Hushed and Grim” will stand as a testament to the time in which it was created. At the end of 2019, the group wrapped up a grueling two years of touring in support of “Emperor of Sand,” giving the band time to relax and spend a couple of months at home. Come February the four men—Brann Dailor (drums, vocals), Brent Hinds (lead guitar, vocals), Bill Kelliher (rhythm guitar, vocals) and Troy Sanders (bass, vocals)—were just getting ready to gear up for a new cycle. “We had gotten a bunch of songs together, we were starting to get excited and feeling a vibe,” Dailor says. “Then everything came to a halt.”