Mastodon: Marrow Deep

The next evolution of the beast

Mastodon have always been a band that makes you wonder what the hell they’re going to do next. From the filthy sludge of Remission and Leviathan, through the swirling progressive madness of Blood Mountain and Crack the Skye, to the sprawling emotional weight of Emperor of Sand and Hushed and Grim, they’ve spent 25 years evolving without ever losing sight of what makes them Mastodon.

Marrow Deep feels like they’ve taken all of those versions of themselves and thrown them into the same room. And it’s brilliant.

Looking backwards. Moving forwards.

The opening moments of “Barbarian’s Blood” make their intentions pretty clear. Produced with a raw, muscular bite by Converge’s Kurt Ballou at GodCity Studio, the track hits like a freight train with guest drumming from Converge’s Ben Koller. Hammering drums, huge riffs, shifting rhythms, and those unmistakable layered vocals fight through the speakers with an urgency that hasn’t always been present in their recent material.

Mastodon sound hungry again. But this isn’t a simple return to the past; it’s a band looking backwards, taking everything they’ve learned along the way, and dragging it somewhere new. Brann’s vocal performance on this album has to be noted – where we still expect to hear Brent’s unforgettable voice, Brann steps up to fill the void. Pushing himself harder and longer than ever, his soaring vocal delivery creates some of the album’s most infectious moments. It hits brutally hard.

A new chapter under a dark shadow

There is, inevitably, a shadow hanging over Marrow Deep. Arriving as their ninth full-length, this is the first Mastodon album following the departure and tragic death of founding guitarist Brent Hinds. His guitar playing, vocals, and unpredictable approach were woven into the fabric of the band’s identity for over two decades, and his absence is deeply noticeable.

Yet Marrow Deep doesn’t sound like a band paralyzed by loss. Evolved now into a five-piece – with core triad Brann Dailor, Bill Kelliher, and Troy Sanders officially joined by guitarist Nick Johnston and keyboardist João Nogueira – Mastodon deliver a record that feels equal parts moving eulogy and explosive forward leap.

Grief is everywhere, but it isn’t the whole story. There’s anger, reflection, uncertainty, and a palpable sense of forward motion. Tribute track “Your Ghost Again” carries a vulnerability that sits strangely alongside the sheer size of the record. It combines raw emotional weight with a towering late-song guitar riff from Kelliher that skyrockets into the stratosphere. Johnston steps into the spotlight with fluid lead work that honours the past while driving their sound into fresh territory. He proves the band haven’t tried to recreate what they lost. Instead, they have taken the space left behind and filled it with something extraordinary.

Heavy as hell with cosmic psychedelia

Let’s get one thing out of the way: Marrow Deep is heavy. Really heavy.

While “Barbarian’s Blood” sets the tone, “Golden Spires” and “A Vampire’s Demeanor” bring the kind of aggressive riffage that made us fall in love with Mastodon in the first place. The latter is particularly filthy, with Randy Blythe and Converge’s Nate Newton adding more fire to an already combustible track. But it’s the lyricism – “I’m still dreaming of what we shared. Can you? Can you take me there? Can you take us there?” – that hits harder than expected. It is a rare moment in heavy music capable of reducing you to tears through the sheer impact of its story.

Crucially, the heaviness never comes at the expense of everything else. For those of us who adore Crack the Skye’s swirling, atmospheric depths, those progressive and psychedelic elements are lurking everywhere. A riff will suddenly spiral into something unexpected, a rhythm will shift underneath you, or João Nogueira’s keyboard textures will appear from nowhere to push the track into lush, Pink Floyd-esque territory (most notably on “Moth and Bone” and the hypnotic mid-section of “In The Ruins”).

The album also serves up brilliant left turns. “The Vanishing” opens with an unmistakable, woozy bass line from Black Sabbath’s Geezer Butler alongside vocals from Gojira’s Joe Duplantier, drifting into a hazy atmosphere that feels like a distant relative of “Planet Caravan.”

Everything, everywhere, all at once

Perhaps the most satisfying thing about Marrow Deep is that it doesn’t force us to choose which version of Mastodon we prefer:

Love the sludge? It’s here in the bone-crushing riffage. Miss the progressive weirdness of Crack the Skye? It’s built into the swirling keyboard layers and shifting arrangements. Appreciate the arena-filling, expansive melodies of Emperor of Sand? It powers the hooks. Moved by the grief and atmosphere of Hushed and Grim? It forms the emotional backbone of the entire record.

Rather than feeling like a fragmented greatest-hits collection of old ideas, these elements are mashed together into something surprisingly cohesive. Closer “The Three Fates” is a perfect example – enlisting Clutch’s Neil Fallon for a sprawling, progressive monster that twists through Hammond organs, soaring guitars, and colossal riffs.

The verdict

The easiest way to describe Marrow Deep would be to call it a return to form, but that doesn’t feel quite right. Mastodon haven’t gone backwards; they’ve gone looking through their own history, picked up the pieces they still love, and brought them into the present.

After 25 years, Mastodon could quite easily have settled into a safe version of themselves that everyone already knows. Instead, Marrow Deep sounds like a living organism still figuring itself out – still experimenting, still grieving, still pushing, and still Mastodon.

Score: 4.5/5

Key Tracks

• 1. Barbarian’s Blood
• 2. Your Ghost Again
• 3. Golden Spires
• 4. A Vampire’s Demeanor
• 5. The Vanishing (feat. Geezer Butler & Joe Duplantier)