MASTODON have confirmed their ninth studio album is complete. Drummer and vocalist Brann Dailor broke the news, describing the recording process as one of the most emotionally demanding in the band's history: "It was a hard record to make. It was a very emotional time for us."
The album is the first without co-founding guitarist and vocalist Brent Hinds. Hinds departed MASTODON in March 2025 and tragically died on August 20, 2025, when his motorcycle was struck by an SUV in Atlanta. The loss cast a long shadow over the entire recording process — alongside Dailor's own mother's passing and the internal turbulence that preceded Hinds' exit.
Hinds does not appear on the record. Dailor speaks of him with deep affection: "He was a free spirit" — someone who had drifted away from the band's commitments in his final years. In his place, Canadian guitarist Nick Johnston — widely known on YouTube and credited for work alongside POLYPHIA and PERIPHERY — has stepped into the role for the studio album.
The musical foundations for the record had been in development for roughly two years. "We've been sitting on it for a while," Dailor confirmed. No release date has been announced yet.
In a recent feature interview, Dailor also paid tribute to the late Chris Cornell, drawing emotional parallels between processing grief and channeling anguish into art — a theme that permeates the new record.
MASTODON's ninth album has no title or release date yet, but what it carries — loss, grief, and hard-won perseverance — will make it one of the most significant records of 2026.