Mastodon is an American heavy metal band from Atlanta, Georgia. Formed in 2000, the band's lineup of Troy Sanders (bass/vocals), Brent Hinds (lead guitar/vocals), Bill Kelliher (rhythm guitar/backing vocals), and Brann Dailor (drums/vocals) remained unchanged for 24 years. Hinds departed Mastodon in March 2025, and died five months later in a motorcycle accident in Atlanta, Georgia.
The band's 2002 debut album, Remission, garnered significant critical acclaim for its unique sound. Mastodon's second full-length release, Leviathan, is a concept album based on the novel Moby-Dick by Herman Melville. Three magazines awarded the record "Album of the Year" in 2004: Revolver, Kerrang! and Terrorizer. The song "Colony of Birchmen" from the band's third album (released in 2006), Blood Mountain, was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance in 2007. Blood Mountain was followed in 2009 by Crack the Skye, and in 2011 by The Hunter, which debuted at No. 10 on the Billboard 200 chart and achieved major commercial success in the United States. The Hunter features the song "Curl of the Burl", which was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance in 2012.
Mastodon's 2014 album Once More 'Round the Sun peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard 200 chart and features the band's third Grammy-nominated song, "High Road". The band's seventh album, Emperor of Sand, was released in 2017 and features the band's most commercially successful song to date, "Show Yourself", which peaked at No. 4 on the US Billboard Mainstream Rock Songs chart. The album's opening track, "Sultan's Curse", earned the band its first Grammy Award. Emperor of Sand was also the band's first album to receive a Grammy nomination; it was nominated for Best Rock Album. Mastodon's last album with Hinds, Hushed and Grim, was released in 2021. The most recent Mastodon album, Marrow Deep, was released in August 2026.
Mastodon has released nine studio albums and numerous other releases. In 2016, the staff of Loudwire named them the 20th-best metal band of all time.
History Formation, early years, and Remission (2000–2003) Mastodon was formed on January 13, 2000, after drummer Brann Dailor and guitarist Bill Kelliher moved from their home state of New York to Atlanta, Georgia, and met bassist Troy Sanders and guitarist Brent Hinds at a High on Fire show. Dailor and Kelliher previously played in Lethargy and had performed on the Today Is the Day album In the Eyes of God, while Sanders and Hinds had played together in a band called Four Hour Fogger. The four men discovered they had a mutual appreciation of sludge metal bands Melvins and Neurosis, heavy metal legends Iron Maiden, and 1970s hard rockers Thin Lizzy, and began working on music together shortly thereafter. In a 2009 interview, Kelliher revealed that the first time Hinds attended a practice with the band, he "showed up so wasted he couldn't play".
The band recorded a nine-song demo in June 2000, which featured Eric Saner on vocals, and they sold it to fans at early shows. Their first concert was at the Dixie Taverne in New Orleans. After just a few months, Saner left the band for personal reasons, and the vocals from 9 Song Demo were re-recorded by Hinds and Sanders. In 2001, Reptilian Records released a 7" picture disc containing three of the revamped tracks. That same year, Mastodon landed a record deal with Relapse Records, and five more of the updated songs were released as the Lifesblood EP.
Mastodon's first studio album, Remission, was released on May 28, 2002. It featured the song "Crusher/Destroyer" (which was included on the Tony Hawk's Underground soundtrack) and the band's first single, "March of the Fire Ants". Coinciding with a music video for "March of the Fire Ants", a deluxe edition of Remission was released in October 2003. This version of the album contained a cover of the Thin Lizzy song "Emerald" and a bonus DVD featuring a professionally filmed live set recorded at The Masquerade in Atlanta.
Leviathan and Call of the Mastodon (2004–2005)
The band's second full-length album, Leviathan, was released in 2004; it's a concept album loosely based on Herman Melville's novel Moby-Dick. The band received critical acclaim for Leviathan and the record was named album of the year by Kerrang! and Terrorizer. "Blood and Thunder", which featured Clutch vocalist Neil Fallon, was chosen as one of the most important recordings of the decade by National Public Radio in November 2009; National Public radio coverage described the entire album as epitomizing "a phenomenal decade for metal". Leviathan also ranked second in a list by Metal Hammer of the best albums of 2004.
The band went on tour in support of the album, playing throughout North America and Europe in The Unholy Alliance Tour along with Slayer and Lamb of God and later on with Slipknot.
"Iron Tusk", the fifth track on the album, can be found on the soundtrack of the skateboarding video game Tony Hawk's American Wasteland and in 2K Sports video game NHL 2K9. "Blood and Thunder" is featured in the video games Need for Speed: Most Wanted, Project Gotham Racing 3 and Saints Row, as well as Japanese music games GuitarFreaks and DrumMania V2, Specific HTML frames at and and was added as a playable track on all instruments in Guitar Hero: Metallica. It has also been released as downloadable content for Rock Band 3, with Pro Guitar support also available at extra cost.
Leviathan was followed by the 2006 release of Call of the Mastodon, a remastered collection of the band's first nine songs, as well as a DVD of interviews and concert footage called The Workhorse Chronicles that includes material from the band's early days as a five-piece. The band has stated that they consider Call of the Mastodon to be their first studio album, as its songs were recorded and released prior to Remission. These two releases were the band's last for Relapse Records, as they would later go on to sign with Warner Bros. Mastodon also recorded a cover version of Metallica's "Orion" for a 2006 Kerrang! tribute album marking the 20th anniversary of the release of Master of Puppets.
Blood Mountain (2006–2008) The band's third studio album, Blood Mountain, was released on September 12, 2006, followed by a tour to support the album along with Tool in Europe and Slayer in Australia and New Zealand. The Mars Volta frontman Cedric Bixler-Zavala lent his vocals to the track "Siberian Divide". Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme contributed vocals for the song "Colony of Birchmen". The band performed the song "Colony of Birchmen" on NBC's Late Night with Conan O'Brien on November 1, their first appearance on network television, to a viewing audience of around 2.4 million people.
The band's first single from Blood Mountain, "Capillarian Crest", was ranked No. 27 in Rolling Stone Magazine's Top 100 Songs of 2006. The album itself was ranked ninth in the magazine's best albums of the year chart. The UK's Metal Hammer voted it the best album of 2006 in its end of year critic's poll. The album was voted in at No. 5 by Kerrang! in its end-of-year list, as well as No. 6 and No. 1, respectively, on PopMatters' Best Albums of 2006 and Best Metal Albums of 2006 lists. About.com rated it the top metal album of 2006. Blood Mountain was also named best album of 2006 in the 10th-anniversary birthday edition (issue 119) of Bizarre. It also came in at No. 2 on Revolver magazine's list of the top albums of 2006. The band was named Artist of the Month for March 2007 at Gametap.com.
Mastodon toured and played numerous shows during this time. The band joined Against Me! and Cursive for a North American tour, with Planes Mistaken for Stars opening for one leg and These Arms Are Snakes the other. A performance in Milwaukee had to be canceled due to illness on the part of Brent Hinds. Mastodon would play the Hove Festival in Norway as well as on the Main Stage of the Download Festival and then the Pitchfork Music Festival. During this time, the band opened for Metallica on the Sick of the Studio tour. The band also played at the 2007 Dubai Desert Rock Festival, the 2008 Bonnaroo Music Festival, and the inaugural Mayhem Festival. Mastodon then toured with Slayer, Trivium, Lamb of God and several other metal bands in 2008 for The Unholy Alliance Tour.
The band performed "Colony of Birchmen" at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards live with Josh Homme. After the televised performance, Brent Hinds was reported to have sustained a severe head injury. Blabbermouth.net initially reported that it was the result of a brutal assault, but the police report later suggested that an inebriated Hinds had started a fight with System of a Down bassist Shavo Odadjian and vocalist William Hudson, also known as Reverend William Burke of Achozen.
"Sleeping Giant" was made available as a downloadable song for Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, "Colony of Birchmen" was included on Harmonix's Rock Band 2 and Volition's Saints Row 2, and "Divinations" was featured in Madden NFL 10 and Saints Row: The Third. Mastodon contributed a cover version of Harry Nilsson's "One" to the video game Army of Twos advertisement campaign. The band members are fans of Aqua Teen Hunger Force and in 2007, Mastodon performed the opening song of Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters, "Cut You Up with a Linoleum Knife".
Crack the Skye and Live at the Aragon (2009–2010)
Crack the Skye was released on March 24, 2009, as a normal version and a deluxe version (which includes all songs in instrumental versions as well as their normal versions) and entered the Billboard 200 at number 11 a week later. The album was produced by Brendan O'Brien and Scott Kelly of Neurosis returns as a guest musician on the title-track.
In a MusicRadar interview, guitarist Bill Kelliher confirmed the album is about an "out-of-body experience", and looks at the concepts of astral travel, wormholes, Stephen Hawking's theories and the spiritual realm. The album follows a quadriplegic who learns astral projection. On his journey he flies too close to the sun, burning his umbilical cord which connects him to his body, and flies into oblivion. At the same time in Czarist Russia, Rasputin and his cult were channeling spirits and brought the quadriplegic to their time. He explains his situation and foretells the assassination of Rasputin. Inevitably Rasputin is assassinated and Rasputin guides him back to his body. The band had debuted three new tracks at the Bonnaroo Music Festival, but did not play any more live shows before the album's release, due to fears of internet distribution and wanting to play the songs to the right audience. Drummer Brann Dailor sings lead vocals for the verses of the song "Oblivion".
Mastodon was a headliner at the Scion Rock Fest on February 28, 2009, performing a set containing three tracks from Crack the Skye, the first time these songs were played since being finalized and recorded. On May 15, 2009, Mastodon performed a shortened version of "Oblivion" on the Late Show with David Letterman. Introducing the band, David Letterman said: "Our next guests are a Grammy-nominated rock and roll band from Atlanta, and I won't lie to you: I'm frightened." The camera then comedically cut to a close-up of Brent Hinds' face tattoo. In support of their new album, Mastodon toured with Metallica on the latter part of the 2009 European leg of their World Magnetic Tour. In Fall of 2009, they embarked with Dethklok on the "Adult Swim Presents" tour along with Converge and High on Fire. On October 17, 2009, they recorded a DVD documenting the tour at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago. Mastodon played the alternative music festival Big Day Out, touring across Australia and New Zealand in January and February 2010. On November 4, 2009, Mastodon released their third EP, titled Oblivion.