The estate of late Mastodon guitarist Brent Hinds has filed a lawsuit against the heavy metal band, alleging that his former bandmates profited off his likeness following his death. Members of Mastodon were wracked with grief when their cofounder and former guitarist was killed in a motorcycle crash last summer. Now, their late bandmate’s estate is suing, claiming the group used his likeness after his death to promote a new album, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Hinds’ estate says in the lawsuit that Mastodon and its members never bought the guitarist out of his share of the band and its related businesses before his death. Despite the acrimony while Hinds was still alive, the estate claims the band used an image of his face on an album cover after he died, cashing in on the tragedy.
The lawsuit claimed that Mastodon’s camp issued Hinds’ estate a check for $80,000 in relation to buying out his interests in the band. However, the estate claims they weren’t provided proper accounting of how the band came to that number, and as such, they refused to cash the check.
Brent Hinds co-founded Mastodon in 2000 alongside Troy Sanders, Bill Kelliher, and Brann Dailor. The four musicians built the band from the ground up in Atlanta, cementing Hinds’ role as a foundational figure in the group’s identity and its eventual rise to prominence in the heavy metal world. That founding partnership is central to the estate’s argument that Hinds retained an ownership stake in the band’s businesses that was never properly settled.
The relationship between Hinds and his bandmates had already grown strained well before his death. Mastodon announced in March 2025 that Hinds was parting ways with the group, describing the split as mutual. Hinds later said he had been forced out. Just five months later, on August 20, 2025, Hinds died in a motorcycle crash in Atlanta at the age of 51.
The album at the center of the lawsuit is Mastodon’s “Marrow Deep,” released via Loma Vista. The record arrived roughly a year after Hinds’ death. It was made in the shadow of his departure and passing, with the band’s remaining members grappling with how to move forward without their former guitarist while still reckoning with his legacy.
The estate’s complaint centers on the claim that Mastodon used a recognizable image of Hinds on the cover of “Marrow Deep” and promoted the album through related merchandise and digital sales. The estate alleges this occurred without resolving his outstanding ownership interests or properly compensating him for the use of his likeness.
