Mastodon's last record, 2014's Once More 'Round The Sun, was a damn fine record absolutely loaded with solid riffs and great rock hooks. While it doesn't look like we'll be getting a new album in 2016 (keywords being "looks like"), the band is certainly not hurting for awesome new song ideas.
In an interview with Loudwire, bassist and vocalist Troy Sanders discusses the new album and how the role of the band's lost EP might play a role in its creation.
“We spent the past few months at our studio in Atlanta in full on writing mode. Yet again we’ve got, we have loads of material that we’re sifting through and honing in on and dialing in. It’s the opposite of writer’s block, which is wonderful. The EP is growing into a bigger life of its own, which is great. All the new material that’s being created is really rocking and sounding pretty damn great to me at the moment in these early skeletal stages of songs. We’ve been up there for a few months, focusing a lot of time and energy on the new record, outside of touring Europe for the month of August this year is dedicated to writing and recording a new album.”
So maybe we'll get that EP as a full-length, and then another album on top of that? Sanders also says there isn't a concept in mind for the new stuff, but the band isn't ruling out a conceptual release either.
It is too early to tell, we let the music dictate storyline. Right now it’s all hands on deck, focusing on music.
2017 might be the year of a whole slew of new Mastodon… or really, really late 2016.
