Тус хамтлаг шинэ цомогтоо уран бүтээлийн шинэ арга барил, шинэ гишүүдийн оролцоог нэгтгэн метал хөгжмийн хүчирхэг дуугаралтыг дахин цогцлоожээ.
Mastodon хамтлаг Marrow Deep цомгоороо дамжуулан уран бүтээлийн гурав дахь эринийг эхлүүлж байгаагаа албан ёсоор зарлалаа. Хамтлагийн гишүүн Брэнт Хайндс таалал төгссөний дараах анхны томоохон бүтээл болох энэхүү цомогт хамтлагийн суурь гишүүд болох Брэнн Дэйлор, Трой Сандерс, Билл Келлихер нар шинэ гишүүд Ник Жонстон, Жоао Ногейра нартай хамтран ажиллажээ. Шинэ гишүүдийн оруулсан жазз болон прогрессив хэв маяг нь хамтлагийн уламжлалт метал дуугаралттай хослон, илүү өргөн цар хүрээтэй, шинэлэг өнгө аясыг бүрдүүлсэн байна.
Цомгийн бүтээлцэх явцад Жош Хомм, Нил Фаллон, Жо Дюплантье, Рэнди Блайт, Гизер Батлер зэрэг нэр хүндтэй уран бүтээлчид оролцсон нь бүтээлийн цар хүрээг улам тэлжээ. Продюсер Патрик Бергер, Курт Баллу нарын удирдлага дор бүтээгдсэн энэхүү цомог нь Leviathan цомгоос хойших хамгийн түүхий, хүчирхэг дуугаралтыг гаргаж чадсанаараа онцлог юм. Хамтлагийн гишүүд өөрсдийн туулсан хувийн уй гашуу, хайр дурлалын мэдрэмжийг дууны үг болон хэмнэлдээ шингээсэн нь сонсогчдод гүн гүнзгий сэтгэгдэл төрүүлэхүйц болжээ.
Marrow Deep цомгийн нээлтийн дараа Mastodon хамтлаг 2026 оны намар Хойд Америкийн аялан тоглолтоо эхлүүлэхээр төлөвлөж байна. Энэхүү аялан тоглолтод Deafheaven болон Alcest хамтлагууд тусгай зочноор оролцох юм. Тус цомог нь хамтлагийн уран бүтээлийн түүхэн дэх шинэ хуудсыг нээж, ирээдүйн хөгжмийн чиг хандлагыг тодорхойлох чухал алхам болж байна.
Дэлгэрэнгүй эх сурвалжийг харах
Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
Mastodon have proven themselves adept at working their art through grief.
Remission, their first album, features a burning horse on the cover that drummer-vocalist Brann Dailor associated with his late sister Skye, a loss that would later more directly inspire Crack the Skye. A couple years later, The Hunter was informed by guitarist-singer Brent Hinds’ brother’s death during a hunting trip.
Emperor of Sand was touched by bassist-vocalist Troy Sanders’ wife receiving a cancer diagnosis, as well as the loss of guitarist Bill Kelliher’s mother. Hushed and Grim was driven by the loss of their longtime manager Nick John, a figure who had been with them from their rise out of the worlds of grindcore, death metal, and noise rock into a vaunted and esteemed career as modern metal masters.
And then they lost Brent.
Related Video
Mastodon have always risen to the occasion, and their new album Marrow Deep is no different. It’s no secret that Hinds fell out of love with heavy music as the band’s career went on, with him saying as much in interviews over a wide span of years. You’d be forgiven for thinking it was a wider held belief of the band, given their extracurricular activitiess largely revolving around rock and prog rather than the extremes of their early career. Marrow Deep proves otherwise. It’s easy to point to their recent Leviathan anniversary tours as the source of the return of true metallic grit, but this has been a beast lingering in the wait for much longer.
All of Mastodon’s power is on full display here, with some of the best playing and vocal performances ever from Dailor and Sanders, while Kelliher continues to be an absolute riff machine. Yet, what truly shines is the warm glowing pride the trio of founding members have for newcomers Nick Johnston and João Nogueira.
Opening track “Barbarian’s Blood” features a gleefully bizarre synth solo from Nogueira, with its science fictional timbres matching perfectly the imagistic history of the band, even as they perform one of their most savage tracks in years. Second track “Poisonous Weapons,” opening with a sample as though they were a young hungry punk-metal band again, features a guitar solo from Johnston that is filled with outside tonality, electing not to try to replicate the bluegrass and country licks of Hinds and instead choosing more overtly jazz terrain. The position of these two tracks is not coincidental: heavy metal menace is back and these two players are now important brushes in the cup.
The application of guests across Marrow Deep is delivered with a similar painterly sophistication. The feature list is stacked: Ben Koller and Nate Newton from Converge come in for guest spots alongside Kurt Ballou manning the boards; Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme returns for the first time since Blood Mountain; Clutch’s Neil Fallon likewise returning to the fold for the first time since Leviathan, and Gojira’s Joe Duplantier and Lamb of God’s Randy Blythe show up for good measure, as well. And there’s even an appearance by heavy metal godfather Geezer Butler of Black Sabbath.
Yet, save for the magical voice of Homme and Geezer’s inimitable bass, you would be forgiven for missing these features as they appear. Their deployment feels so natural with the compositions that they barely register as guest spots, instead seamlessly fitting in as another extension of songwriting tools the band has at its disposal.
The outro to lead single “Your Ghost Again” was composed in two parts, with the overtly prog rock portion being composed by Johnston and Nogueira before shifting effortless into a heavy closing riff by Kelliher. The synchrony shown in that passage is a key for the full album. For those who complained, wrongly I might add, that Mastodon were beginning to retread the same waters over the past few records, this differentiation of duties and songwriting approaches gets wielded across each song. Nogueira writes as though he is discovering lost Gentle Giant tracks in the vault; Johnston brings a finesse and jazzy ear that belies the immense technical gifts he possesses, while Dailor produces anthemic stargazing choruses and Kelliher is free to explore the expanse between the band’s roots in grindcore and sludge metal to the wider expressive art rock they found together.
Of particular note is the shift in production, now split between Patrick Berger and Kurt Ballou as co-producers. Ballou’s noted gift for pulling the grit and sense of cavernous spaciousness out of bands is on full display here. The raw sonics of the album are the rawest and grittiest since Leviathan, eschewing the cleaner production focus the band took on in the wake of Crack the Skye’s gargantuan success. Berger likewise dials in a sound that has enough reverb and sonic depth to no longer feel like an active tense rock record, allowing the playing and composition to take the role that more forward production has vied with in the past. Marrow Deep has a strong argument for the best-sounding record of the band’s career, justifying its sly lyrical nods to tracks from across the band’s history by also being in touch with the sonic landscape of those records.
Throughout Marrow Deep, Mastodon sound freer than they’ve sounded since Blood Mountain. But so too do the songs bear the obvious strain of loss and love, including Dailor’s mother, who passed during the making of the album, as well. There is a near-panic to the vocals, a desperation you only get graveside, grasping at fingertips being dragged away from you forever. Anyone who has been within the wells of grief knows it is not a simple shape and it kicks up strange emotions you would never have anticipated. Mastodon honor both.
Mid-record, the band delivers an instrumental duel between Johnston and Nogueira on “Out Like a Lamb,” a battle recapitulated in greater length on album closer “The Three Fates.” It’s a clear pledge by the band. They know what they can do and knew better than us what they’d been sitting on, waiting for the opportunity to be as rivetingly heavy as they were in those early days. They want us to know what’s coming, who will be in the writing room for the duration of what comes next.
Mastodon don’t just sound like they are honoring the immensity of their artistic and personal past. They sound hungry for the future again in a way they haven’t quite been so fervent about since Crack the Skye blew the doors off. That eagerness and hunger is infectious. If Crack the Skye signaled the beginning of their second era, then Marrow Deep is the big bang of their third. This is rebirth.
Mastodon are headlining a Fall 2026 North American tour with support from Deafheaven and Alcest. Pick up tickets here.
