Mastodon promise their new album will be their “biggest-sounding” yet

Mastodon
(Image credit: Press)

Mastodon guitarist Bill Kelliher has revealed that the band are halfway through the mixing of their upcoming eighth album, the follow-up to 2017's Emperor Of Sand.

In a new interview with Talking Metal, Kelliher said that the album should be out in September or October this year, and discussed what it was like working with Grammy-award winning producer David Bottrill (Muse, Dream Theater, Tool) for the first time.

“Honestly, I hadn’t really heard of him before last year. We were kind of tossing around who we were gonna use for the new record. We have a couple of different producers that we like; I mean, we’ve liked everyone we’ve used in the past. But I think, with this record, we kind of were just, like, ​‘We might need somebody new – somebody really fresh and brand new.’ And we got on the phone with David, and we had a couple of other people we had been talking to. With COVID and everything, a lot of people just weren’t available or willing to come to Atlanta.”

"When we got on the phone with David, he seemed like a great guy. He already had some of the demos, so he had all kinds of notes." Kelliher continues: "He came in and he was diligent. He had done his homework. And he was, like, ​‘For this song, I have this idea. For this song, I have these ideas.’ And he kind of spouted them off to us on the phone. And I said, ​‘Are you willing to come to Atlanta and work with us here, sight unseen, at our studio?’ And he was, like, ​‘As long as the studio’s got the certain equipment that I need, and it’s a decent-sized room and everything…’ We had done a lot of other records there with other bands. And he was willing to come down.”

Kelliher adds that although he ​“wasn’t really into trying anything new” at first, he changed his mind as time went on: “I was like, ​‘You know, this record is really special, and it’s different, and times are different right now.’ ” He continues, ​“So we all just kind of [went into it] with open minds, and the result is amazing. It’s the fullest‑, biggest-sounding record we’ve done so far.”

He also added that they were "halfway through the mixing" process.

Watch the full interview below. 

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