Mastodon have opened the door on a powerful new chapter.
The Atlanta heavy music icons have announced their long awaited new album Marrow Deep, set for release on August 28 via Loma Vista Recordings. The announcement arrives alongside the release of the blistering new single “Snakes For Dinner”, featuring a guest vocal appearance from Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme, who also appears in the accompanying music video.
Listen to “Snakes For Dinner” here:
https://i.mastodonrocks.com/snakesfordinner
Five years on from the expansive Hushed And Grim, Mastodon return with an album shaped by grief, change, reflection and renewed creative fire. Marrow Deep finds founding members Brann Dailor, Troy Sanders and Bill Kelliher emerging from years of personal upheaval with a sense of purpose that feels both heavy and deeply human.
Inspired by the Three Fates of Greek mythology and the fragile threads that connect life, loss and destiny, Marrow Deep looks set to channel the emotional weight of the past few years into some of the band’s most expansive and resonant work.
That is a big statement when talking about a band like Mastodon.
For more than two decades, they have built entire worlds through sound. From the oceanic force of Leviathan to the cosmic grief and transcendence of Crack The Skye, the hard rock hooks of The Hunter, the weight of Emperor Of Sand and the sprawling emotional scope of Hushed And Grim, Mastodon have never been a band content to stand still.
Now, Marrow Deep marks another shift in the story.
The album is the band’s first full length to feature guitarist Nick Johnston, with significant contributions from keyboardist João Nogueira. It was co-produced by Mastodon at their own West End Sound in Atlanta alongside Patrik Berger and Kurt Ballou, mixed by Andrew Scheps, and includes a staggering roster of guests still to be revealed.
That creative team alone says plenty about the scale of what Mastodon are building here.
“Snakes For Dinner” gives fans a first real taste of that scale. The track is heavy, emotional and unmistakably Mastodon, anchored by crushing riffs, soaring melodies and that strange sense of beauty the band can pull from even their darkest material.
Josh Homme’s appearance gives the song another layer of weight. It marks his first appearance on a Mastodon recording since “Colony Of Birchmen” from 2006’s Blood Mountain, reconnecting two distinct eras of the band’s history while pushing into something new.
The song follows last month’s “Your Ghost Again”, which quickly became an immediate fan favourite and ranked highly in Revolver’s reader poll of the best songs of 2026 so far. Together, the two tracks suggest that Marrow Deep is not just another Mastodon album. It feels like a record carrying the band through a major moment of transition.
At the emotional centre of that transition is the absence of founding guitarist Brent Hinds.
Last week, Mastodon released the short film The Mastodon In The Room, an intimate and honest document that finds the band reflecting on their unresolved grief, their 25 year journey together and the complicated relationship dynamics that shaped the years leading into this new era.
That context gives Marrow Deep an even deeper weight.
This is not just a band moving forward because the calendar demands another album cycle. It feels like Mastodon are processing the past, honouring what came before, and trying to find a way through the next chapter with honesty, care and creative hunger.
Troy Sanders says:
“Bill, Brann, and myself are thrilled that we still have the opportunity to do this, and we’ve got other members who are just over the moon to be in the band with us. That’s a magical feeling that makes us keep wanting to go to band practice. It’s reminiscent of the very beginning of our band, where all members are hungry, we’re united, and excited to get to work. And we’re thrilled to have the opportunity to do this record.”
That quote says a lot.
There is grief here, but there is also gratitude. There is change, but there is also unity. There is the weight of a band’s history, but also the rare feeling of creative rebirth after more than twenty five years.
Mastodon have always been at their best when they turn life’s hardest subjects into something massive, strange and cathartic. Their music has never been simple escapism. Even when wrapped in mythology, monsters, oceans, planets or ancient imagery, the emotional core has always felt real.
Marrow Deep seems to continue that tradition.
The title alone suggests something internal, something buried, something that has to be reached through pain rather than comfort. If “Snakes For Dinner” is anything to go by, this album is going to sit in that space between riff driven force and emotional excavation, where Mastodon have done some of their greatest work.
For those who need the reminder, Mastodon are one of the most important heavy bands of the modern era.
Since emerging in 2000, they have pushed metal, sludge, progressive rock and heavy music into their own strange universe. Leviathan became one of the great modern metal records. Crack The Skye turned grief, spirit and cosmic ambition into a landmark album. The Hunter, Once More ’Round The Sun and Emperor Of Sand all landed Top 10 debuts on the Billboard 200, while “Sultan’s Curse” earned the band a GRAMMY Award for Best Metal Performance.
Their reach has stretched far beyond metal circles, with music appearing across Game Of Thrones, Adult Swim, The History Channel, DC films, Coachella and Bonnaroo. In 2024, they toured arenas with Lamb of God to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Leviathan, later joining forces for the collaborative single “Floods Of Triton”.
Most recently, they were honoured as guests of New York’s Metropolitan Opera for its production of Moby Dick, acknowledging the 20th anniversary of Leviathan and its own deep connection to that story.
That kind of career would be enough for most bands.
But Mastodon have never felt like a band built to simply repeat themselves.
With Marrow Deep, they seem to be entering another unknown space. A place shaped by loss, mythology, resilience, friendship and the need to keep creating even when the ground underneath has changed.
“Snakes For Dinner” is out now.
Marrow Deep arrives August 28 via Loma Vista Recordings.
Pre-order and pre-save Marrow Deep here:
https://i.mastodonrocks.com/marrowdeep
