walking upstream…
Mastodon
sourcesWikipedia · Loudwire · Knotfest · Decibel Magazine · CNN · Guitar World
Mastodon coalesced in Atlanta in January 2000 when drummer Brann Dailor and guitarist Bill Kelliher, recent transplants from upstate New York, met bassist Troy Sanders and guitarist Brent Hinds at a High on Fire show and discovered they all obsessed over the same handful of records: Melvins, Neurosis, Thin Lizzy, and Iron Maiden. That shared taste became a mission statement — treat sludge metal's crushing weight as scaffolding for prog ambition rather than an endpoint. Their 2004 concept album 'Leviathan,' a Moby-Dick-haunted set built on some of metal's most-quoted riffs, is still routinely ranked among the best metal records of the 21st century, and the band kept widening its scope through 'Blood Mountain,' 'Crack the Skye,' and the platinum-certified 'The Hunter.' Co-founder Brent Hinds left the band in March 2025 and died in a motorcycle accident that August; Mastodon has continued on with guitarist Nick Johnston.
the sound in question
2004
Blood and ThunderMastodon
walk the tributaries ↓
Neurosis1990s · Post-metal / Sludge metal / Hardcore punk
This is the influence Mastodon made literal. Drummer Brann Dailor has said his late-night conversations with Neurosis's Scott Kelly were 'the catalyst' for starting a band at all, and Kelly has sung a guest verse on a track from every Mastodon studio album since 2004 — beginning with 'Aqua Dementia' itself, where his rasp interrupts Troy Sanders's vocal like a fever breaking.
listen: upstream & here
1993
Enemy of the SunNeurosis
2004
Aqua DementiaMastodon
listen forNeurosis's 'Enemy of the Sun' and Mastodon's 'Aqua Dementia' both build a tribal, pounding rhythm under vocals that sound less sung than exorcised — then 'Aqua Dementia' hands the mic to Kelly himself for the payoff.
Thin Lizzy1970s · Hard rock / Blues rock / Heavy metal
Kelliher has named Thin Lizzy directly as the template for his love of 'harmonizing guitars,' and Brent Hinds pointed to 'that Thin Lizzy reference' when explaining why Mastodon doubles and harmonizes its guitar tracks rather than leaving them single-note. It surfaces any time the band's two guitars peel off into a unison lead instead of trading riffs.
listen: upstream & heresource: Premier Guitar ↗
1976
EmeraldThin Lizzy
2006
Colony of BirchmenMastodon
listen forCompare 'Emerald,' built on Scott Gorham and Brian Robertson's harmonized twin-guitar attack, with 'Colony of Birchmen,' whose extended harmonized solo is the clearest Thin Lizzy homage in Mastodon's catalogue.
Melvins1990s · Sludge metal / Noise rock / Stoner rock
Bill Kelliher has called Buzz Osborne's riffwriting a lifelong touchstone, and the Melvins were one of two sludge bands (with Neurosis) whose records bonded all four future members before they'd played a note together — accounts of the band's formation describe a 'mutual appreciation of sludge metal bands Melvins and Neurosis' as the spark. Where Mastodon departs from the source is scale: they borrow the Melvins' one-riff-forever conviction and build whole prog structures around it rather than just let it repeat.
listen: upstream & here
1993
HoochMelvins
2002
March of the Fire AntsMastodon
listen forSet 'Hooch' beside 'March of the Fire Ants' — both hammer a single thick, downtuned riff into the ground for a few punishing minutes, more interested in tonnage than variation.