MASTODON Shares Music Video For 'In The Ruins' From Upcoming 'Marrow Deep' Album

Atlanta progressive metallers MASTODON have released the official music video for the song "In The Ruins". The track is taken from the band's long-awaited new album, "Marrow Deep", which will arrive on August 28 via Loma Vista Recordings. The LP marks MASTODON's first full-length effort without founding guitarist/singer Brent Hinds, who was fired from the band in March 2025 and died five months later in a motorcycle accident. "Marrow Deep" was co-produced by MASTODON at the band's own West End Sound in Atlanta with Patrik Berger (Lana Del Rey, Charli XCX) and Kurt Ballou (HIGH ON FIRE, CONVERGE) and was mixed by Andrew Scheps (Adele, BLACK SABBATH, METALLICA). "Marrow Deep" is also notably the group's first full-length to feature new guitarist Nick Johnston alongside significant contributions from keyboardist João Nogueira.

"In The Ruins" was inspired by the devastating impact of Hurricane Helene and the personal havoc it wreaked upon MASTODON bassist/vocalist Troy Sanders and his family. The catastrophic storm severely flooded their home and destroyed personal belongings, leading to a nearly two-year period of displacement that coincided with the whole band navigating the profound grief of the passings of founding member Brent Hinds and drummer/vocalist Brann Dailor's mother Michele Lawrence, ultimately channeling the loss into a powerful declaration of resilience and catharsis. The song comes paired with a vibrant video by animation and VFX studio Hey Beautiful Jerk that depicts a fever dream journey by a single-eyed creature named Frank across flooded and ruined landscapes that serves as a metaphor for the song's lyrics.

MASTODON commented: "'In The Ruins' is inspired by the devastating impact of Hurricane Helene and the havoc it wreaked upon Troy and his family. The catastrophic storm severely flooded their home and destroyed personal belongings, leading to a nearly two year period of displacement that coincided with the whole band navigating the passings of Brent and Brann's mother Michele. Yup, it's another deep one, but ultimately it's us channeling the loss into a powerful declaration of resilience and catharsis. We are lucky we have each other, and we are lucky we have you, our fans!

"We collaborated with animation wizards and long-time friends Hey Beautiful Jerk for this visual. We absolutely love it, here is some more about how it came about!"

Hey Beautiful Jerk explained: "The initial inspiration for Frank and the concept for 'In The Ruins' came to me when I was in the ER for 10 hours with the worst eye infection of my life. The pain was so bad it felt like my eye was revolting and wanted to escape my head. I had just talked to Brann about the meaning of the song and how it was inspired by his and Troy's recent losses. The expression 'picking up the pieces' came to me and I sketched a very rough version of Frank on my phone, capturing the idea as fast as I could before my eye wanted to escape my face once again."

Five years on from the expansive "Hushed And Grim", "Marrow Deep" documents founding members Brann Dailor, Troy Sanders and Bill Kelliher emerging from years of personal upheaval with a renewed sense of purpose and reinvigorated drive. Inspired by the Three Fates of Greek mythology and the fragile threads connecting life, loss, and destiny, "Marrow Deep" channels the intense personal experiences of the intervening years into some of the most expansive, adventurous, and emotionally resonant music of the band's storied career.

Second single "Snakes For Dinner" (which followed on the heels of immediate fan favorite "Your Ghost Again") is an emotionally charged epic featuring Josh Homme's first appearance on a MASTODON recording since his contribution to "Colony Of Birchmen" on 2006's "Blood Mountain". Anchored by crushing riffs, and soaring melodies the song unveils the emotional core of "Marrow Deep", reflecting on the lingering absence of those we've lost and the winding path ahead.

"Marrow Deep" marks the beginning of an ambitious new era. The album preserves the crushing riffs, adventurous songwriting, and emotional depth that have long defined MASTODON, while a renewed sense of purpose pushes the band toward some of the most compelling music of their career.

"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," Sanders says. "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."

"Marrow Deep" track listing:

01. Barbarians Blood
02. Poisonous Weapons
03. Your Ghost Again
04. Snakes For Dinner
05. Out Like A Lamb
06. In The Ruins
07. They’re Coming For You
08. Golden Spires
09. Moth And Bone
10. A Vampire’s Demeanor
11. The Vanishing
12. The Three Fates

Since 2000, Hinds had served as lead guitarist and vocalist for MASTODON, alongside bassist/singer Troy Sanders, drummer/vocalist Brann Dailor, and guitarist Bill Kelliher.

MASTODON's lineup had remained the same for 25 years, recording eight studio albums, beginning with 2002's "Remission" until the band's latest LP, 2021's "Hushed And Grim".

MASTODON has had nine Billboard 200-charting albums and has been nominated for a Grammy Award six times. The band won a "Best Metal Performance" Grammy for "Sultan's Curse" in 2018.

MASTODON's latest album, "Hushed And Grim", was a double LP recorded at the band's Atlanta studio, West End Sound.

MASTODON recruited Ben Eller, a guitarist known for his popular YouTube channel, to step in for Hinds when the band played at TOOL's "Tool In The Sand" festival in the Dominican Republic in March 2025. For MASTODON's spring 2025 tour and other recent shows, the band enlisted the aforementioned Canadian musician Nick Johnston. Johnston has six solo records under his belt, and has also worked with POLYPHIA, Guthrie Govan, PERIPHERY and many others.

The first single from "Marrow Deep", a song called "Your Ghost Again", was made available in early June.

"'Your Ghost Again' is about when you lose somebody that's close to you that you existed with for most of your life," Dailor said. "When we were in the studio recording, I kept seeing Brent. I'd see him on my right holding the guitar because that's where he'd usually be. It's the same with my mom: I keep seeing her. I was just singing about what I was seeing, and I was seeing ghosts."

Dailor went on to say that "Your Ghost Again" is "about being in those familiar places you used to be with people, which for us is in the studio. I just kept seeing [Brent] out of the corner of my eye, where he would normally be with his guitar. It's about that: your mind plays tricks on you, especially so soon after someone dies and you're in the places where they always were. You just see them."

"My portion of the song, lyrically, is all about Brent, and for Brent," added Sanders. "The bridge lyrics are two lines of pure gratitude towards Brent. It's all the gifts from you, now you can take them back where you must go, meaning you came into my life, you exposed me to things that blew my mind, together we conquered thousands of stages around the world, had magical moments that we can never repeat again, but all the beauty that you brought it still remains, always will, and it's just a line of gratitude because that's important that we include Brent."

Kelliher commented: "We wanted to pick a song that sounds like MASTODON, and that has all the things in there, because it's the first impression of what people are gonna hear. It speaks about things that have just happened and people passing, I could go deep but I don't want to because a lot of that shit's personal."

Regarding "Marrow Deep", Brann said: "Hopefully this album helps everybody. Hopefully they can find some piece of it that speaks to them about it. I know Brent's not there and it's weird and it's hard, and some people might be like, 'Well I don't wanna listen to it because Brent's not there and I'm hurting about that', but we are too. Big time."

Brann continued: "It means a lot to me, and I hope that's able to translate to our fans and people who are grieving, too. I understand that, because we never really addressed it. We just couldn't. And to the fans I'm just sorry that I wasn't able to be more for them when that happened, because I couldn't. For myself, I'm still unpacking it."

In May, Dailor told BLABBERMOUTH.NET about MASTODON's highly anticipated ninth studio album: "We're very excited about it. It was a hard record to make. It was a very emotional time for us. I lost my mom, we went through all this turmoil with Brent, and then he passed away. It's been tough. It's all in the music, it's all in the songs, and I'm excited to release it and get it out there into the world because we've been sitting on it for a while. A lot of this stuff, at least the skeletons of what this album is, we've been sitting on for two years now. A lot was going on."

Asked whether the new studio album features any musical contributions from Hinds, Dailor told BLABBERMOUTH.NET: "No. It's all new stuff. Toward the end, unfortunately, it was hard to get him to come down to the [practice] space. He was interested in doing other stuff, which was fine. It was a confusing time. [Laughs] I was the one going, 'Come on, man. Come down. Let's riff.' He was a free spirit. He wanted to ride his motorcycle around and go do this and that. He was wherever the wind took him. Unfortunately, it was not down to the practice space to work on riffs. It was a little bit frustrating. I was okay with it. I was like, 'Hey man, everyone can do whatever they want to do in their life. If you're unhappy and not wanting to be here doing whatever, figure out what does make you happy and do that.'"

MASTODON will celebrate the "Marrow Deep" release with the upcoming "The Poisonous Weapons Tour", a nationwide run of dates with support from DEAFHEAVEN and ALCEST. Kicking off September 16 in Orlando, the trio of bands will cut their way across the full country before closing out October 24 at Sick New World Dallas.

Photo: William Lacalmontie