QUEBEC CITY, QUEBEC – JULY 11: Nick Johnston (L) and Bill Kelliher of Mastodon perform on day 9 of 2025 Festival d’été de Québec on July 11, 2025 in Quebec City, Quebec. (Photo by Scott Legato/Getty Images)
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The last few years haven’t been without turbulence for the Atlanta heavy metal outfit Mastodon. After releasing their ambitious double album Hushed & Grim in 2021, the release was met with a rather lukewarm response across the metal community. At nearly 90 minutes in length, the double album certainly felt bloated, but most of its songs felt semi-hollow, as if they were operating without a key member or contributor.
In fact, Hushed and Grim saw the least amount of songwriting contributions from guitarist/vocalist Brent Hinds in his entire career with Mastodon. It felt like it was the first time that Mastodon released an album that left many die-hard fans, myself included, feeling indifferent about an album. It wasn’t a bad album, but something was certainly off.
Fast forward to 2025, Mastodon had announced it was parting ways with longtime member and songwriter Brent Hinds. Only a few months after Hinds’ exit, Hinds was tragically killed in a motorcycle accident. This news was devastating for the metal community and of course Mastodon, who shared decades of their lives together with Hinds. Only a month ago, Mastodon released a short documentary which details their time together with Hinds, showing off both the good and the bad times throughout the years. However, after watching this documentary, it’s apparent that Hinds’ inner turmoil and his struggles with addiction were impacting Mastodon’s ability to perform and create art at a high level like they had long been doing.
Mastodon Enter A New Era With Ninth LP, Marrow Deep
Picking up the pieces following Hinds’ death, Mastodon returned to the studio to record Marrow Deep, the band’s first album with guitarist Nick Johnston and returning keyboardist João Nogueira. From the moment the needle drops, it’s apparent that Marrow Deep features a far more energized and renewed sounding Mastodon.
The opening track “Barbarians Blood” kicks things off with a combination of foreboding sludge and punk paced grooves with a touch of progressive elements, a common theme throughout this album. There’s a noticeably fiery and more urgent approach to the vocals throughout this LP as well, both from bassist Troy Sanders and drummer Brann Dailor. Overall, the first four tracks “Barbarians Blood,” “Poisonous Weapons,” “Your Ghost Again,” and “Snakes For Dinner” showcase Mastodon perfecting the balancing act of delivering straightforward aggression and hooky melodies without spoon feeding their signature quirky prog influences, but rather giving precise and deserved moments for complexity.
The Performances On Marrow Deep
One of the biggest achievements of Marrow Deep is how Mastodon have managed to find this stylistic balance, and also showcase the many incredible performers in the band; Marrow Deep is the first time keyboardist João Nogueira sounds like a prominent contributor and key pillar to the band’s sound. There is a plethora of keyboard textures and solos where Nogueira consistently surprises and elevates the sonic image of the song, especially on the Sabbath-soaked epic “The Vanishing,” which features Black Sabbath’s own Geezar Butler delivering his signature ‘doomy’ bass intro.
However, the biggest question that many fans have is how well does guitarist Nick Johnston fit within the band? While this is Johnston’s first album with Mastodon, he’s given plenty of moments to shine and show off his unique approach to guitar playing – “Out Like A Lamb” features a standout moment from Johnston, and it might already be one of the best solos in the band’s catalogue. Overall, Johnston makes a massive first impression on Marrow Deep. It’ll be interesting to see if Johnston is given more opportunities to shine on future LPs, but considering the impossible task of filling Brent Hinds’ shoes, Johnston’s playing sounds entirely unique and it already fits the band like a glove.
Marrow Deep’s Production Elevates Mastodon Altogether
One of the best aspects of Marrow Deep is how well it was produced and recorded. The band worked with producers Kurt Ballou and Patrik Berger and mixing engineer Andrew Scheps; however, Ballou’s sonic footprint can’t help but be apparent throughout the album. Brann Dailor’s masterfully tasteful drumming sounds better than ever, and Bill Kelliher’s complex riffs are given much needed clarity whilst maintaining their heavy bottom end. Simply put, from a production standpoint it’s a huge improvement from Hushed & Grim, which had a handful of great songs but the production didn’t manage to elevate any of the album’s otherwise solid performances.
Bottom Line
Marrow Deep proves itself to be the much needed return to form that fans have been waiting for from Mastodon. It’s not a perfect album – in fact many of Mastodon’s recent LPs tend to feel overly bloated – Marrow Deep may have been better served as a nine or ten track LP with bonus tracks, rather than the 12 tracks the band chose to stick with. However, all things considered, Marrow Deep’s songs, performances and production consistently deliver in a way that hasn’t been seen from Mastodon in a long while. Fans will definitely be talking about Marrow Deep for years to come, as it’s the start of what looks to be an exciting new era for Mastodon.
Verdict: 8.5/10
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