While it is traditional for bands closely associated with a genre to insist “there’s always been a dance element to our music” or to protest that they are too versatile to be pigeonholed, it’s less common for them to be as forthright as Brent Hinds of metal heroes Mastodon. “I fucking hate heavy metal and I don’t want to be in a heavy metal band,” he has told Guitar Player magazine.
The guitarist explained that he had never been a metal fan to begin with, and had played country, surf rock and rockabilly in Alabama. In his 20s, he played metal because “I thought it was rebellious”. He then hooked up with his bandmates “and ever since then I’ve been trying to get Mastodon to not be such a heavy metal band … I don’t want to be in a heavy metal band.”
Mastodon do employ some of the textures and techniques of prog rock and psychedelia – including tricksy time signatures – and on recent albums, some of the more obviously metallic signifiers have been dialled down. Nevertheless, it would be hard to describe them as anything other than a metal band, suggesting Hinds has some way to go in his quest.
Nevertheless, as far back as 2009, Hinds was telling the Guardian he felt the band were more classic rock than metal. “That’s the direction I’ve always wanted us to take. This is the first album where I wrote all the music, and I never wanted us to be this screaming, lumbering, lotsa-drum-solos band, I always wanted us to be this heavy, psychedelic thing.”
Mastodon recently appeared as wildlings in the penultimate episode of Game of Thrones. “It was such an incredible experience to be on set as extras for our collective favourite show, Game of Thrones, and to be wildlings murdered and then brought back to life by White Walkers was beyond amazing,” said the band’s Brann Dailor. “I watched my best friends, Brent and Bill, murdered right in front of me as I myself was stabbed in the stomach and had my throat slit multiple times, and I didn’t mind at all.”
