ALBUM REVIEW: MARROW DEEP BY MASTODON
Reviewed by Cecilia Pattison-Levi
Release date 28 August 2026
US metal titans Mastodon begin their ninth studio album, ‘Marrow Deep’, as you would expect, with big electric guitars, the strings groaning under the strain to deliver an anxious but beautiful melody in ‘Barbarians Blood’, featuring Ben Koller, as the layered vocals echo that “we are in danger of losing everything”. There is real loss and pain driving this record, and these feelings are buried deep in our bones. And when ‘Poisonous Weapons’ commences with a sample from the 1986 cult thriller film ‘River’s Edge’, where Feck yells, “And I felt so fucking alive!”, the juxtaposition of the joy in life when presented with the reality of death is reflected in the driving groove of the drum and bass rhythms and the guitar blasts over the top of the mix as “reality sweeps like a flame”.
The “wasted years” are lamented in ‘Your Ghost Again’. The lyricism is about “falling on your knees” as forgiveness is sought. However, there is also a vision of the future: “close your eyes” as the guitar solo wails and the haunting clean vocals state, “I saw your ghost again”, as a pathway forward opens. I guess the ghost of the band’s recently deceased member Brent Hinds looms large. “Hearts and minds”, “took the Moon and stars” and feed the “monsters”, and an amazing guitar solo, are central in ‘Snakes For Dinner’, that features a guest vocal appearance by Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme. Then, the electric guitar riff and melody of ‘Out Like A Lamb’ take that religious symbolism of the light as someone “stumbles” and feels the “weight of the world”, and the desire to “save you” loses out again.
The rock guitars of ‘In The Ruins’ lead into a very long heavy rock meditation on the wreckage left behind after death. It is followed by the wailing guitars of ‘They’re Coming For You’, and guitar lovers will appreciate the skills on display. The “guilt” and “burden” of “playing the victim” and “the fool” with the lyrical clean vocals are really good in this song as it laments relationships falling into ruins as the jackal brings “treachery”. Those big, descending guitar scales in ‘Golden Spires’ follow the drum beats to the “evil that lies below” through “time” as the song calls for “freeing yourself” as the guitar solo cries.
The twinkling light synths noodle until the acoustic guitars bring in the mid-tempo rock song ‘Moth and Bone’. The spacey feel is embedded in melody as “raising a glass” to the lost as “the dream is gone”. It “breaks you down” before the harder vocals drive the big, heavy sonic soundscape as “faces hit the wall again” in a sorrowful “fever dream”. The drums lead into ‘A Vampire’s Demeanor’, featuring Lamb of God’s Randy Blythe and Converge’s Nate Newton, in a big, heavy track with darker vocal fry. The clean vocals are terrific as they urge us “to burn the world down” as “screaming at the sky” happens. But a new day is coming.
‘The Vanishing’, featuring Black Sabbath’s Geezer Butler and Gojira’s Joe Duplantier, is a trippy song about suffering, death and release. It has a very big rock feel as an experimental soundscape that moves and changes through the elements of heavy metal from dark vocals to lyrical acoustic guitar pieces. It’s a stunner of a track. ‘The Three Fates’, featuring Clutch’s Neil Fallon, closes out the album and references the Ancient Greek myth connecting life, loss, and destiny as the synth keys play a jazz-like riff that has a dreamy quality.
‘Marrow Deep’ is an album primarily about grief, “wasted years” and loss, but it also has a lightness that celebrates the present and future. Heavy metal and rock fans will love what this record has to offer.
