Mastodon

Mastodon’s 2017 album Emperor of Sand brought the Atlanta heavy metal band its first Grammy Award, with opening track “Sultan’s Curse” winning Best Metal Performance. The record also earned a Best Rock Album nomination, while its single “Show Yourself” reached No. 4 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Songs chart, the group’s highest commercial placement for a song.

Formed in 2000, Mastodon built its sound around the guitars of Brent Hinds and Bill Kelliher, the bass and vocals of Troy Sanders, and the drumming and vocals of Brann Dailor. That lineup held for 24 years. Hinds departed in March 2025 and died five months later in a motorcycle accident in Atlanta.

The band’s 2002 debut, Remission, drew significant critical acclaim. Its follow-up, 2004’s Leviathan, used Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick as the basis for a concept album and was named Album of the Year by Revolver, Kerrang! and Terrorizer. Mastodon continued with 2006’s Blood Mountain, whose “Colony of Birchmen” received a Grammy nomination for Best Metal Performance in 2007, then released Crack the Skye in 2009.

With 2011’s The Hunter, Mastodon reached No. 10 on the Billboard 200 and scored another Grammy nomination through “Curl of the Burl,” recognized in the Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance category. The 2014 album Once More ’Round the Sun climbed to No. 6 on the Billboard 200, and “High Road” became the band’s third Grammy-nominated song. Hushed and Grim, released in 2021, was the final Mastodon album to feature Hinds. The group’s most recent album, Marrow Deep, arrived in August 2026.