Mastodon drummer and vocalist Brann Dailor recently discussed the meaning behind the band’s new album, ‘Marrow Deep,’ in an interview with Craig Reynolds. The album was inspired by the passing of Dailor’s mother and the band’s former guitarist, Brent Hinds.
Dailor explained how a common thread connected the two figures. Both seemed to escape death repeatedly, much like Keith Richards, until it eventually caught up with them.
“For me, there’s a ribbon that ties everything together. With using the three fates mythology, Greek mythology to have the cover art. I just looked at the similarities between Brent and my mom being these are two people that sort of like we thought they had nine lives, you know what I mean?” Dailor said.
“And they did, you know, my mom was in and out of the hospital constantly. She was pronounced dead four times and brought back and was always in the ICU and just a dealt a real shitty hand in life. And Brent was just one of these guys that was constantly walking into the deep end and wanting you to come with him and you’re like, ‘Dude, I can’t go in there. I got I got stuff to do.’ And he would just be kind of a free spirit.”
“But, you know, he just got away with a lot of things that other people wouldn’t be able to. So, we always thought that the these two individuals and for me what they had in common was they were these Keith Richards type of people where the the big bomb could go off and it would be Keith, my mom, Brent and some cockroaches and the rest of us would perish.”
“Cuz Brent would always come out the other side of us smelling like roses, you know, we’d be like, ‘How’s he doing all this?’ You know, it’s a magic trick. But, unfortunately, it catches up with us all in the end. The last with the scissors and snips. So that’s basically the theme,” he continued.
Those comments make more sense against the events that led to the record. The album grew out of a period of heavy loss for the band, and its themes of fate and mortality reflect that. Dailor’s mother died in early 2025.
‘Marrow Deep’ is set for release on August 28, 2026, through Loma Vista Recordings. It is the band’s ninth studio album and their first release on the label. The 12-track collection includes “Barbarians Blood,” “Poisonous Weapons,” “Your Ghost Again,” “Snakes for Dinner” and “The Three Fates.” The last title ties directly to the mythology Dailor described.
It is Mastodon’s first album without Hinds. Two of its songs, “Your Ghost Again” and “Snakes for Dinner,” work as tributes to Dailor’s mother and Hinds.
Hinds’ exit from the band came on March 7, 2025. Mastodon announced the split on their social media channels. It was the first lineup change in the band’s history. Hinds had played on every one of their studio albums up to 2021’s ‘Hushed and Grim.’
The band’s announcement read:
“After 25 monumental years together, Mastodon and Brent Hinds have mutually decided to part ways.”
