Brann Dailor Reveals Mastodon Will Release New Album This Year: “It Was a Hard Record To Make”

Singer-drummer Brann Dailor has confirmed that Mastodon will release their ninth studio album sometime in 2026, marking the metal band’s first new LP in five years following 2021’s Hushed and Grim.

The album will arrive after a period of turmoil for Mastodon, including the loss of Dailor’s mother, the departure of founding guitarist Brent Hinds, the search for a new guitarist, and the sudden tragic of death of Hinds in a motorcycle accident.

Dailor told Blabbermouth, “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.”

As to whether the album will contain any material contributed by Hinds before his departure from the band and subsequent passing, Dailor replied, “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. 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.”

Dailor continued, “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.'”

On Sunday, Dailor responded to an Instagram post related to the interview, when dryden3970 asked, “Is it releasing in the next 7 months or in 2027?” Dailor replied, “It will be out this year.”

Mastodon will kick off a UK/European tour in early June, and return to the States in the fall for the Louder Than Life festival in Louisville, Kentucky, and the Sick New World fest in Fort Worth, Texas. Pick up tickets here.