Mastodon release ninth album Marrow Deep following death of former guitarist Brent Hinds
The Atlanta metal band’s latest record demonstrates the resilience of legacy rock acts navigating profound personal loss and lineup changes in a demanding global music market.
Mastodon has released its ninth studio album, Marrow Deep, marking the group’s first major project following the death of former guitarist Brent Hinds. The Atlanta-based band continues as a core trio, navigating a period of significant personal and professional transition.
The album arrives twelve months after Hinds passed away, an event that followed his acrimonious departure from the group at the start of 2025. The recording period also coincided with the death of drummer and vocalist Brann Dailor’s mother, adding to a historical pattern of grief shaping the band’s discography.
Previous records have similarly been informed by loss, including 2009’s Crack The Skye and 2021’s Hushed And Grim, which was dedicated to their late manager Nick John. While the lyrical content of the new record remains characteristically cryptic, the title itself signals the weight of these recent events.
Musically, the project retains the complex, heavy sound that has defined the band’s commercial appeal. Core members Dailor, bassist and vocalist Troy Sanders, and guitarist Bill Kelliher are joined by touring guitarist Nick Johnston and keyboard player João Nogueira.
The absence of Hinds’s distinctive vocals is noted throughout the record, particularly on tracks like Barbarians Blood, where Sanders and Dailor alternate vocal duties. Despite the underlying anguish, the album incorporates shape-shifting musical approaches, including jazzy elements on In The Ruins and a cosmic, psychedelic direction on The Vanishing.
The record also features high-profile collaborations that bridge generations of heavy music. Geezer Butler contributes a bass introduction to The Vanishing, while Clutch’s Neil Fallon appears on The Three Fates.
For the broader music industry, the release underscores the endurance of established rock acts capable of transforming profound adversity into viable creative output. This resilience is a valuable asset in a recording sector where legacy acts must continually justify their relevance to both loyal fans and new audiences. The band has framed Marrow Deep as a defiant album, "not laughing in the face of death, but not crumbling under it either."
