The time for a new Mastodon album is nearly upon us! The band recently finished up recording the album, and according to drummer Brann Dailor in an interview with Loudwire, they're just waiting on artwork and final masters at this point. Despite rumors that the album could very well be a double album,
Dailor says it's only about an hour long, and deals pretty heavily with having cancer.
"There is a tie, a concept that goes between them. The last couple of years have been not, there’s been some illness within the bands family, there’s been a bunch cancer, so the whole album is sort of all about cancer basically. Well, not literally. It’s a big story that sort roped to go along with it. It takes place in the desert."
He adds that guitarist Bill Kelliher lost his mother to cancer about 8 months. Mastodon paying tribute to loved ones through their music is nothing new – Crack The Skye paid tribute to drummer Brann Dailor's sister, The Hunter was a nod to Brent Hinds' brother, the track "Aunt Lisa" from Once More 'Round The Sun was an homage to Dailor's aunt, and the new album has Dailor playing his grandmother's bass on a track in remembrance of her.
Dailor says the new album, which was produced by Brendan O’Brien (Rage Against The Machine, Korn), is due out possibly late April 2017.