Welcome to a special edition of Top Ten Things, here at Enuffa.com! And by "special" I mean "not quite ten things!"
Given the recent release of their ninth studio album Marrow Deep, I thought I'd finally get around to ranking the discography of sludge/prog/stoner/alt-metal mavericks Mastodon!
I first discovered these guys in 2007 while looking for some new music to peruse. A friend recommended them to me and I looked them up on Wikipedia to find that their two most recent albums at that time - Leviathan and Blood Mountain - were universally acclaimed, the former winning lots of metal magazine awards. During my lunch hour I ran out to Newbury Comics and picked up both albums, and upon popping in the latter I discovered.....that I wasn't quite ready for them yet.
I think I was expecting something more akin to nu metal, and despite the gritty distorted guitars and barbaric vocals, Mastodon was definitely not that. The insanely busy arrangements, jazzy fill-heavy drums and metalcore screaming were tough for me to latch onto at first, and while I enjoyed a handful of songs and occasionally gave those a spin, it wasn't until five years later after the releases of Crack the Skye and The Hunter that I was fully able to absorb this unique twist on my favorite music genre. I quickly became hooked on those two records and ultimately came to love the previous two as well. From thence Mastodon has been one of my two favorite bands of their generation, sharing regular rotation space with Avenged Sevenfold, and every new Mastodon album release has been a big event on my musical calendar.
I'm honestly loath to pick a favorite between the two. Where Avenged Sevenfold leans separately into their myriad influences to great and profound effect, Mastodon's style is such an eclectic amalgam it's difficult to even categorize; they aren't quite sludge or stoner or prog or nu, they're a wholly original metal subgenre unto themselves. Combining Brann Dailor's wild drumming, Brent Hinds and Bill Kelleher's mind-bending guitar riffs, Troy Sanders' sludgy bass lines, and the three vocalists' (Dailor, Hinds and Sanders) distinct vocal styles, Mastodon's sound is truly unlike any other.
But enough exposition, let's get to it....
9. Remission
Starting at the bottom of the list for me, though it's certainly an impressive debut, is Remission. Released in 2002, this record introduced everyone to Mastodon's unique blend of sludge and prog metal, combining muddy detuned guitar riffs, throaty hardcore vocals and jazz-influenced drums. While not a concept album, Remission does begin the band's four-album "elemental" theme with "fire," as well as serving as a catharsis for Brann in dealing with his sister's suicide at age 14. Like many debut albums from great bands, Remission for me is just an entry point into a catalog that showed remarkable creative growth as time went on. Mastodon came out of the gate with an adventurous, original combination of sounds and styles, and once that was done they were able to build on it in spades. It's a fine debut record but they were just warming up.
Key Tracks: "March of the Fire Ants," "Ol'e Nessie," "Elephant Man"
8. Once More 'Round the Sun
Mastodon's 2014 followup to The Hunter carries many of that album's hallmarks, with a focus on tight, melodic songwriting, showcasing all three of the band's vocalists. Also like The Hunter, there's no central theme or concept, it's just a collection of tunes. While its first half is very strong with memorable singles like "High Road" and "Chimes at Midnight," plus a Mastodon all-timer in "Asleep in the Deep," the second half does peter out for me and it feels like the album runs out of ideas before it runs out of material. "Diamond in the Witch House" for example is the album's longest, and weakest track in my opinion, a rather monotonous eight-minute slog that doesn't earn its extended runtime. OMRTS is by no means a bad record, just a step down from the previous four, which is surprising from a band with so few missteps.
Key Tracks: "Tread Lightly," "Chimes at Midnight," "Asleep in the Deep"
7. Marrow Deep
Mastodon's latest album, the first without the late founding member Brent Hinds, is 2026's Marrow Deep. Despite the major void left by Hinds' absence, the record falls comfortably into their classic overall sound, echoing The Hunter and Emperor of Sand. New members Nick Johnston (guitar) and Joao Nogueira add a bit of their own flavor, but the overall album feels like a band getting back to what they know after the heartbreaking loss of a former member. At times the material seems perhaps a bit *too* familiar, but as a reset of sorts it's understandable they'd reach into their proven bag of tricks. Less trippy than their last few albums, Marrow Deep returns to a straightforward sludge metal sound while still preserving a melodic vocal approach and adding some welcome jazz and prog flourishes. Hinds' voice, both literally and figuratively, is missed here, but the two remaining vocalists Brann and Troy stretch their range to impressive highs on this record. There are also numerous guest appearances from such notables as Joshua Homme of Queens of the Stone Age, Black Sabbath's Geezer Butler, and Randy Blythe of Lamb of God. While it doesn't reach the heights or emotion of Emperor and Hushed and Grim, Marrow Deep nonetheless proves that despite losing a crucial creative element, Mastodon's new lineup still has plenty of ideas to contribute.
Key Tracks: "Your Ghost Again," "Snakes for Dinner," "The Vanishing"
6. Leviathan
Mastodon's first classic and first concept album was this critically-acclaimed sophomore effort Leviathan, the "water" entry in their "elements" quadrilogy. Inspired by the legendary novel Moby Dick, Leviathan established Mastodon as one of the elite metal bands of the 21st century, combining thoughtful lyrical content, impossibly intricate sludge metal riffs, and Buddy Rich-esque drum grooves. The band's signature sound was really established here in songs like the relentless opener "Blood and Thunder," the offbeat "Naked Burn," and the 14-minute penultimate track "Hearts Alive," which serves as the album's climax before a palette-cleansing instrumental called "Joseph Merrick" plays over the closing credits, so to speak. You might ask why such a heralded, cinematic album ranks so low on my list, and the reason is simply that I think Mastodon has topped it with several later albums. But that doesn't make Leviathan any less impressive.
Key Tracks: "Blood and Thunder," "Naken Burn," "Hearts Alive"
5. Crack the Skye
Mastodon's proggiest album to date is their 2009 release Crack the Skye. The fourth in their "elements" series, this album tells a trippy story of a paraplegic who astral-travels into outer space, gets stranded and sucked into a wormhole, and ends up inside the body of Rasputin. Inspired by bands like Pink Floyd and King Crimson, Mastodon ventured way outside their comfort zone to make Crack the Skye their trippiest album to date. Brann Dailor in particular stepped up his vocal game in a major way on this record, providing some of the album's best leads. The album heralded a seismic shift in Mastodon's songwriting approach, shedding much of their sludge metal roots in favor of a more melodic, progressive tone, evident on the two ten-minute-plus songs "The Czar" and "The Last Baron," and especially on my favorite-ever Mastodon song "Oblivion." Crack the Skye is a record that requires patience and multiple listens, but like all good prog albums is pays off in the long run.
Key Tracks: "Oblivion," "The Czar," "Crack the Skye"
4. Blood Mountain
My Mastodon gateway was their third album, the "earth" installment of their four-album "elements" theme, whose story tells of a mythical hero journeying up a mountain to place atop it a crystal skull and achieve the next step in human evolution (Coincidentally the band would take a major evolutionary step on their fourth record). Blood Mountain took me literal years to fully absorb, so dense is the songwriting, and it's one of those proggy records that's much greater than the sum of its parts. Few of the individual tracks would make my Mastodon top ten list, but taken as a cohesive whole, Blood Mountain is an extraordinary work, boasting some absolutely dazzling instrumental bits. Vocally the band was further venturing out of the aggressive scream style so prevalent on the first two records, rounding out the textural palette with a bit more melody. Brann Dailor lent his clean backing vocals to a few of the tracks, foreshadowing Mastodon's stylistic shift on Crack the Skye. This record is an attack on the senses but if you give a few listens and really let it in, it rewards repeat plays. I'll list key tracks as usual but Blood Mountain should really be listened to as a full album.
Key Tracks: "The Wolf is Loose," "Sleeping Giant," "This Mortal Soil"
3. Emperor of Sand
After a middling sixth record, Mastodon really bounced back with their 2017 release Emperor of Sand. A return to their concept record roots, this album was inspired by Troy Sanders' wife's battle with cancer (which she fortunately won). The metaphorical lyrics tell the story of a fictional desert nomad who must battle an oppressive sultan to escape a death sentence, exploring themes of confronting mortality and surviving terrible adversity. Troy, Brent and Brann share and alternate vocal parts throughout the record, lending nearly every song their three distinctive textures. Songs like "Steambreather" convey the existential dread of the wanderer's journey, while "Ancient Kingdom" strikes a triumphant note, and the album's closer "Jaguar God" contains some of Brent's most poignant vocal work. Released at a time when two of my own mother figures had battled and ultimately succumbed to cancer, Emperor of Sand hit very close to home for me, and it still holds up as one of Mastodon's best records. This one absolutely flies by.
Key Tracks: "Sultan's Curse," "Steambreather," "Ancient Kingdom"
2. The Hunter
As I said earlier, it took me a while and many listens to fully appreciate Mastodon's work, and I have to largely credit their fifth album The Hunter for getting me over the hump as it were. Their first four albums, as great as they are, are an acquired taste, but The Hunter for me proved accessible and addictive right off the bat. The opening track "Black Tongue" sets the album's tone of heavy, intricate tunes with a more melodic, streamlined approach. "Stargasm" and "Octopus Has No Friends" are major earworms that kept me coming back for weeks, "Creature Lives" was the first song that made me fall in love with Brann Dailor's smooth vocal style, and the closing track "The Sparrow" brings to mind Crosby, Stills & Nash, with its delicate vocal layering. The Hunter saw the band establish their later-career formula, one that would blend their early aggression with multi-textured vocal melodies and unforgettable hooks. It was their first album since Remission to not be built around an overall concept, where good old-fashioned songwriting really took center stage.
Key Tracks: "Stargasm," "Octopus Has No Friends," "The Sparrow"
1. Hushed and Grim
For me the band's masterpiece is their epic 2021 double album Hushed and Grim. A tribute to their late manager Nick John who died of pancreatic cancer, this album is Mastodon's most emotive to date, and one of their most progressive as well. Oddly the vocal duties were mostly left to Troy and Brann, with Brent contributing only two vocal leads, possibly foreshadowing his exit from the band a few years later. But the songwriting is top-notch from start to finish, a stunning mix of signature and new sonic territory. "Pain with an Anchor" and "Sickle and Peace" sound like classic Mastodon fare, while "The Beast" and "Had it All" explore moodier, more introspective terrain. The final one-two gut-punch of "Eyes of Serpents" and "Gigantium" comprise a deeply affecting final goodbye to the band's fallen comrade, making you want to start the whole record over again. The closer especially feels like a tearjerking eulogy, and I well up every time I hear it. That Mastodon was able to put out such an accomplished, thoughtful record this deep into their career speaks volumes of their musical honesty and adventurousness. Hushed and Grim is one of my favorite albums of the 21st century.
Key Tracks: "Pain With an Anchor," "Peace and Tranquility," "Gigantium"
And there's my Mastodon album ranking - comment below with yours!
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