The creative engine behind Mastodon is revving up again, and fans can expect a return to the band’s genre-defying form in 2025. In a recent interview with Metal Hammer, drummer and vocalist Brann Dailor offered details about the evolving sound and direction of the band’s next album, which will mark their first release since 2021’s “Hushed And Grim.”
Dailor’s description of the new material is tantalizingly ambiguous. “The songs are all over the place,” he said. “I hear some punk rock in there, but then I hear some insane prog and I hear the heaviest version of ourselves poking its head out again.”
The wide-ranging influences suggest that Mastodon is once again crafting an album that defies easy categorization. Over the years, the band has made a name for itself by exploring a kaleidoscope of sounds — melding metal with everything from psychedelia to sludge to prog — and it seems that tradition will continue.
At the heart of the new project is a compelling narrative thread. Dailor confirmed that the album will be a concept record, a creative approach that Mastodon has embraced on several of their most celebrated releases, such as Leviathan and Crack The Skye. “I have a story I’m working on,” Dailor shared, adding that it delves into “supernatural horror.” It’s a fitting theme for a band that’s always flirted with dark, mythic storytelling, and fans will no doubt be curious to see how Mastodon brings these eerie elements to life through their music.
While details about the album’s sound remain intentionally vague, Dailor offered a few hints about its overall shape: “You can talk all day about what you want to do, but at the end of the day it governs itself — it pulls you where your heart is.” The creative process, it seems, is an organic one for Mastodon, with the music taking the lead. This intuitive approach has always been a part of their appeal, resulting in records that feel both carefully constructed and wildly unpredictable.
For those wondering when the new album will arrive, Dailor made it clear that 2025 is the target. “I don’t see a world in which it does not come out in 2025,” he said.
In the meantime, Mastodon recently teamed up with Lamb of God to release a collaborative single, “Floods of Triton,” in September 2024. Recorded before their co-headlining Ashes of Leviathan tour, the track gave fans a taste of the two bands’ chemistry.
However, according to Dailor, the song isn’t necessarily a preview of what’s to come. “I wouldn’t say that the song is indicative of the new material,” he told Australia’s Heavy magazine in October. “But I wouldn’t say that any single song would ever be indicative of the overall sound of anything that we were gonna come out with, because I think that we sort of pride ourselves on offering… a full album that’s got a lot of variety to it.”