RoD header

mastodon hushedandgrimThe Southern Metal institution MASTODON has announced their ninth studio album: ‘Hushed And Grim’ will be released on October 29, 2021 on Reprise Records. Parallel to the pre-order start with all digital partners, the new album by the four US rockers can now also be pre-ordered in various physical configurations. With ‘Pushing The Tides’, MASTODON are already presenting a first foretaste of the new studio album.

After four years of waiting, the fans can look forward to plenty of new material: With ‘Hushed And Grim’, MASTODON present their first double album! Most recently they released the acclaimed album ‘Emperor of Sand’ in 2017, which won the band, which has been active for over 20 years, after four nominations for the first Grammy Award (in the category ‘Best Metal Performance’). In the USA the album reached number seven in the charts, in Germany and the UK it reached number eleven. On the radio, the single ‘Show Yourself’ brought them to number #4 in the American Active Rock Charts, the biggest airplay success to date.

The new album ‘Hushed And Grim’ was created over the last year in her hometown of Atlanta. Produced by David Bottrill (including TOOL, RUSH, MUSE, PETER GABRIEL), MASTODON sound more ambitious and expansive than ever - because the 15 songs cover everything from Rock and Psychedelic to Punk and Metal to Alternative and Prog, tied by the unique chemistry that exists between these four sworn Rock virtuosos. Meanwhile, the mood is anything but exuberant when they say goodbye to their long-time companion, friend and manager Nick John, who died of cancer in autumn 2018.

In addition to the painful loss of their good friend and manager, there were other individual setbacks and bereavements, which is why ‘Hushed And Grim’ emerged in a rather gloomy overall mood, as the band reports. Nevertheless, they are by no means mopping up - they present the latest incarnation of the MASTODON sound. Incidentally, these latest compositions are visually interpreted once again by the artist (Remission, Leviathan, Call of the Mastodon, Blood Mountain, Crack The Skye), who also contributed the artwork for the new studio album.

For MASTODON, the release of the ninth album marks a further evolutionary step: the songwriting sounds even more mature this time, their rejection of classic genre affiliations even more emphatic and unmistakable than before. They develop their trademark sound again, this time showing a lot more courage to play melodies - which makes ‘Hushed And Grim’ a career milestone overall.



Even recently, MASTODON have by no means been idle: With ‘Captured Live At Georgia Aquarium’ they have presented an innovative live stream concept (with the support of Dreamstage). In addition to the two soundtrack contributions ‘Forged By Neron’, which recently appeared on ‘Dark Nights: Death Metal Soundtrack’ (DC Comics), and ‘Rufus Lives’, which appeared on the OST for ‘Bill & Ted save the universe’ hear - they also released the compilation album ‘Medium Rarities’ in 2020. As a limited vinyl edition, there was also the single ‘Fallen Torches’ including an unreleased instrumental version as a B-side (punched cover, picture disc). The edition, limited to 11,500 copies, is available here.

By consistently breaking with expectations, MASTODON were able to go their very own way towards mainstream success: In their home country, they have been guests in the biggest shows for years - from Jimmy Kimmel LIVE! and Late Night with Seth Meyers to guest appearances on Game of Thrones or on the History Channel (Counting Cars) - their songs also ran regularly on the big screen: In ‘Monsters University’ (Pixar) or ‘Bill & Ted save the universe’ after they had worked on the soundtrack for ‘Transformers 3’ ten years ago. Her contribution to the Jonah Hex-OST was recently followed by the next chapter with ‘Dark Nights: Death Metal Soundtrack’ (to which Brann Dailor also contributed an additional solo title with ‘Red Death). Despite these many mainstream and Hollywood contacts, MASTODON have always remained 100% loyal to themselves and their fans.


Tracklist

CD1
01. Pain With An Anchor
02. The Crux
03. Sickle And Peace
04. More Than I Could Chew
05. The Beast
06. Skeleton Of Splendor
04. Teardrinker
08. Pushing The Tides 

CD2
01. Peace And Tranquility
02. Dagger
03. Had It All
04. Savage Lands
05. Gobblers Of Dregs
06. Eyes Of Serpents
07. Gigantium 

Also Grammy winners for several years, MASTODON have consistently followed their own path from the start: Founded in 2000 by Troy Sanders (bass / vocals), Brent Hinds (guitar / vocals), Bill Kelliher (guitar) and Brann Dailor (drums / vocals) in Atlanta, many of their previous album releases are considered real metal milestones. In 2004 ‘Leviathan’ was included in the list of the ‘100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time’ by the US Rolling Stone. Five years later, ‘Crack The Skye’ should appear on various top lists of the year at the end of the year (including TIME, SPIN). The last three album releases - ‘The Hunter’ (2011), ‘Once More ‘Round The Sun’ (2014) and ‘Emperor of Sand’ (2017) - all went straight to the top 10 on the US Billboard 200.

For ‘Sultan’s Curse’ they then also won their first Grammy in the category “Best Metal Performance” (with a total of five Grammy nominations so far). When their good friend and long-time manager Nick John passed away in autumn 2018, the following year they dedicated a special interpretation of the iconic Led Zeppelin classic to him by performing the tribute song ‘Stairway To Nick John’. Published exclusively for Record Store Day 2019, all proceeds from the sale went to the Hirschberg Foundation For Pancreatic Cancer Research. With the new studio album ‘Hushed And Grim’ produced by David Bottrill (Tool, Rush), they are now back and start the ninth chapter of their success story.


Source: Press Release

Comments powered by CComment