Back on November 11, Mastodon announced they'd be working with producer Nick Raskulinecz (Rush, Ghost, Foo Fighters) for their upcoming record without saying when they'd be in the studio. Guess what? As you're reading this, the band is currently in the studio.
On Saturday, Metal Hammer gave guitarist for the group Bill Kelliher a call to see what was up with the new record. On the topic of recording, Kelliher said:
“I’m in Death Valley [California] and Thanksgiving is in two days, I fly back toAtlanta on Friday [Nov 29] and on Saturday or Sunday we start tracking. We’ve got 21 or 22 songs that are candidates for the new record though obviously we can’t use all of those. We’ll have to strip a few off though they can be used elsewhere. I’m really not sure if there will be [a concept] or not. I know we had some ideas for a concept, but we’ve been so busy…”
Kelliher also spoke briefly on working with Raskulinecz:
“It’s something that we totally need – a cheerleader to get our asses in gear. There he is saying: ‘Come on, you’re Mastodon… you’re one of the biggest bands in metal… smash that hammer down and write some heavy shit. It’s time to do or die!’ He’s that kind of a guy.”
Raskulinecz was one of the many minds behind Rush's Clockwork Angels and Ghost's Infestissumam, which are both amazing records from their respective years, so expectations and excitement are both extremely high right now. Add on the fact that this is Mastodon we're talking about and we might just get the best damn record from the group to date!
