Mastodon

Mastodon is a rock band formed in 2000 in Atlanta, Georgia by a guitar player Bill Kelliher and a drummer Brann Dailor. Soon Troy Sanders and Brent Hinds joined them. All four artists had similar music preferences and tastes. They were big fans of Neurosis, Melvins, and Thin Lizzy. The first official album released by the band was an EP, Lifesblood. It came out in 2001. A year later, the band presented its debut LP, Remission, which featured such successful singles as "Crusher/Destroyer" and "March of the Fire Ants". The producer of the album was Matt Bayles. The LP came out with the support of Relapse Records. In 2004, Mastodon released the 2nd LP called Leviathan. It earned positive reviews from critics and fans. Terrorizer and Kerrang called the LP “Album of the Year”. Metal Hammer put Leviathan on the third position of its “best albums in the past 20 years” list. Leviathan was a conceptual album, inspired by Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick”. After the release, the artists embarked on a big tour of Europe with Slipknot and Slayer. It was called The Unholy Alliance Tour.

In September 2006, Mastodon presented its next album, Blood Mountain. To support it, the band decided to tour Europe with Tool. Then the musicians toured New Zealand and Australia with Slayer. One of the songs from the album “Colony of Birchman” was recorded with Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age. He admitted that he was a big fan of rockers from Mastodon. Later "Colony of Birchmen" was nominated for a Grammy Award but the prize went to Slayer’s "Eyes of the Insane". In November 2006, the band performed the song on The Late Night Show with Conan O’Brien on NBC. After that, many fans tried to book Mastodon for private events. In March 2009, the group presented its fourth LP, Crack the Skye. It had a standard and a deluxe version. The latter featured several instrumental versions of the band’s songs and reached the 11th spot of Billboard 200. The producer of the album was Brendan O’Brien, who used to work with Mastodon on Leviathan.

In the autumn of 2011, the band presented its next LP, The Hunter, which earned positive reviews from fans and critics. The album was the group’s third project, which came out in both the USA and Canada with the support of Reprise Records. In 2013, the band returned to the studio. In February, in one of the interviews, the artists announced the release of the sixth album, which would come out in the summer of 2014. They also talked about plans for an EP in winter 2014. The new LP Once More 'Round the Sun came out as planned, in June 2014. It featured 11 songs, among which were "Tread Lightly", "The Motherload", "High Road", "Once More 'Round the Sun", and others. The album sold more than 34,000 copies in just one week. It climbed to the 6th spot of Billboard 200. At the beginning of 2015, the musicians announced a new album. In March, they presented a single “White Walker”, which was played on the popular HBO TV series Game of Thrones.

In March 2017, Mastodon presented their 7th LP, Emperor of Sand. The debut single “Show Yourself” came out in February. By June, it climbed to the 4th spot of Billboard Mainstream Rock Songs. It is considered the most popular song created by Mastodon so far. Another single from the album “Steambreather” reached the 18th spot of Billboard Mainstream Rock Chart. In September 2017, the band released an EP, Cold Dark Place. It featured four songs, three of which were recorded when the group was working on Once More 'Round the Sun. In 2018, the band embarked on a long tour of North America, which continued from May to June. The same year, the LP Emperor of Sand was nominated for a Grammy but didn’t get the prize. However, during the same ceremony, the single "Sultan's Curse" brought Mastodon its first Grammy for Best Metal Performance.