Atlanta’s Mastodon are one of the most original and influential American metal bands to appear in the 21st century. Their wide-angle progressive approach encompasses stoner and sludge metal, punishing hardcore and metalcore, neo-psych, death metal, and more. The group’s playing style incorporates technically complex guitar riffs, lyric hooks, long, melodic instrumental passages, and intricate, jazz-influenced drumming with syncopated time signatures. Their second album, 2004’s Leviathan, was a concept set based on Moby Dick, Herman Melville’s iconic novel of whaling and obsession, and became the band’s commercial breakthrough. The record is regarded critically as one of the most important albums in genre history. 2011’s conceptual The Hunter reflected the band’s embrace of prog; it channeled disparate influences ranging from King Crimson to Opeth. 2017’s Emperor of Sand debuted inside the Top Ten and was nominated for a Grammy for Best Rock Album — the single “Sultan’s Curse” took one home for Best Metal Performance. Change and evolution (Mastodon’s raison d’être) are as integral to their musical identity as their personnel. 2020 saw the issue of Medium Rarities, featuring live cuts, covers, and instrumentals. In 2021, Mastodon returned to proper studio recording with the double-length Hushed and Grim, and in 2024, they teamed up with Lamb of God on the single “Floods of Triton.”
Mastodon formed in 1999 around the talents of guitarist Bill Kelliher, drummer Bränn Dailor, bassist/vocalist Troy Sanders, and guitarist/vocalist Brent Hinds. One of the more notable New Wave of American Heavy Metal acts, a genre spawned in the mid-’90s by bands like Pantera, Biohazard, and Machine Head, Mastodon’s innovative, lyrically astute blend of metal subgenres helped position the band as one of the pre-eminent metal acts of the early 21st century. Formed out of a mutual admiration for the Melvins, Black Sabbath, Neurosis, and Thin Lizzy, Mastodon signed with Relapse Records (Today Is the Day, Dillinger Escape Plan, Coalesce) in 2001 on the strength of a four-song demo. The EP Lifesblood arrived that same year, followed by the group’s full-length debut, Remission, in 2002. The album made positive waves in the metal community, but it wasn’t until 2004’s Leviathan that the band’s eclectic brand of proto-metal began to enter the bloodstream of the entire music community. As polished and melodic as it was brutal and genre-defying, Leviathan, loosely based on Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, signaled a turning point in Mastodon’s career, appearing on critics’ year-end Top Ten lists across the musical spectrum. Leviathan also featured a guest vocal appearance from Neurosis’ frontman Scott Kelly, which marked the beginning of a tradition: He has appeared on each of the band’s full-length recordings ever since.