This Georgia unit unlocked the creative possibilities of metal.
Mastodon Video Essentials
The sludgy ragers unleash trippy sci-fi, horror, and psychedelia.
Mastodon: Influences
The 2000s metal band was built on prog and classic rock.
Artist Biography
Mastodon is an Atlanta-based heavy metal band known for intricate arrangements and elaborate concept albums, such as 2004’s Moby-Dick-inspired Leviathan.
∙ In 2006, the band’s third LP, Blood Mountain, ranked at No. 9 on Rolling Stone’s top 50 albums of the year.
∙ They performed the hard-rock hit “Colony of Birchmen” with Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards.
∙ Mastodon composed theme music for the Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters and appeared in the 2007 movie as animated snack food.
∙ Beginning with 2011’s The Hunter, every one of their full-length studio albums has reached the Top 10 of the Billboard 200 chart.
∙ The band’s prog-influenced 2017 song “Sultan’s Curse” won a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance—their first win after multiple nominations.
∙ The ferocious riff-fest “Show Yourself” is their highest-charting hit to date, reaching No. 4 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Songs chart in 2017.