When co-founder Brent Hinds left Mastodon in 2025, then subsequently died after being hit by a car, many of us wondered if the band could possibly continue. But singer/drummer Brann Dailor, singer/bassist Troy Sanders, and guitarist Bill Kelliher did indeed persevere, recruiting guitarist Nick Johnston and keyboardist Joao Nogueira, hitting the studio with Kurt Ballou of former tourmates Converge, and making Marrow Deep, a loving tribute to the agony and ecstasy of life.
It’s common knowledge at this point that the members of Mastodon had conflicting feelings about Hinds’ passing, with grief doing battle with their lack of closure from the break-up. While there doesn’t appear to be any one song that addresses Hinds’ death directly, that rollercoaster ride of emotion runs through every song on the album. “Your Ghost Again” and “The Three Fates” (with a menacing spoken word bridge by frequent Mastodon guest Neil Fallon from Clutch) throb with pain and regret, yet the band’s muscular riffs and tricky rhythm shifts kick against the prick of melancholy. “A Vampire’s Demeanor” (guest-starring Converge’s Nate Newton and Lamb of God’s Randy Blythe) and “They’re Coming For You” solidly reconnect with the foursome’s heavy metal roots to express defiance and rage. The overtly progressive rock-laced “Moth and Bone” and “Out Like a Lamb” evince endurance and tenacity in the face of hard challenges. The psychedelia of “In the Ruins” and “The Vanishing,” which features Gojira’s Joe Duplantier and a grungy bass intro from Black Sabbath’s Geezer Butler, introduces notes of warmth without removing discomfort. “Golden Spires” and the monstrous “Poisonous Weapons” show off the fierce chemistry between Dailor and Sanders, the latter’s rough growl contrasting nicely with the former’s clean anthemics to represent the yin and yang of anguish and perseverance.
The trials and triumphs of our fragile human existence power nearly every artist’s work, no matter if they pick up a paintbrush or drumsticks. Of late, though, Mastodon have been through it, and that tornado of emotion becomes the engine powering Marrow Deep, an album that will likely be ranked with their very best.
