My Love for Mastodon (RIP Brent Hinds)

 It was last week that Mastodon announced that their former-guitarist and co-founding member, Brent Hinds passed away suddenly in a motorcycle accident. He was 51. A friend of mine told me just very matter of fact, “Dude, Brent Hinds died.” I get this funny reaction when people die and it remained the same with Brent. I go, “Well, where is he? When’s he getting better?” Then the reality hits. 

It’s strange. Mastodon played a huge part in my younger years and was one of the first progressive metal bands I got into. I was turned on to bands like Rush, Dream Theater, and Tool; bands that played these longer songs and really gave experiences in different ways to enjoy music and celebrate musicianship. It was on Rock Band 2 in 2008 (I believe?) that I was first introduced to them. 

Side note, Rock Band and Guitar Hero as a kid was fucking great. A video game series really introduced me to a lot of bands I wouldn't have gotten into to if it wasn't for them. They did a fantastic job at getting a wide variety of rock music into an even wider audience, especially when it came to metal. This was how I was introduced to bands like Metallica, Slayer, Aerosmith, and AC/DC, and countless other great songs. Mastodon was one of them with "Colony of Birchmen." 

It was over after that. "I NEED more of this band," so I went on Wikipedia and went to town. The latest album at that point was 2009's Crack the Skye. I looked at the track listing. Seven songs in 50 minutes. Shit like that got me excited! Two songs were longer than 10 minutes, "The Czar" and "The Last Baron." The whole album was one story about this astral projecting paraplegic. It was nuts. It was exactly what I was chasing after as a young, budding musician. It's still my favorite album of theirs to this day. It's just perfect, but I digress. 

Then I went back on their discography, and I loved all their albums for many different reasons. Remission was a chunky, sludge metal record with this progressive metal edge to it. Leviathan had more complex songs in it and was this concept album about Moby Dick. That's it. It was the story of Moby Dick in metal form. Leviathan was actually the record that got me to read the novel. I wasn't a big fan of the book, but the album was great. Blood Mountain was also an album with a story attached to it. It was about this protagonist who climbs this mountain and sees some crazy shit in order to place this crystal skull on the top of the namesake's Blood Mountain in order to reach the next step of human evolution. Progressive metal, baby. Gotta love it. 

The grandiose, mythological songwriting are somewhat absent from there, but all of their albums are pretty fantastic. The Hunter, Once More 'Round the Sun, Emperor of Sand, and Hushed and Grim. All great in different ways. 

For twenty-five years, it was just the four bandmembers; Brent Hinds, Bill Kelliher, Troy Sanders, and Brann Dailor. Just the four of them for a quarter of a century and eight albums. Then in March, guitarist Brent was ousted from the band without any public reasons as to why. I won't speculate here either as that's in poor taste, but when I heard that announcement I was floored in disbelief. Brent is such a creative force in the band that it didn't make sense. He had this great rock and metal element to him, but his main characteristic was this surf rock and country twang to his playing, chicken pickin' and all. It really made his playing distinct in the metal world and was a huge reason I listened to the band. 

With any member getting fired from a band, particularly if it's a main-songwriter from their band, I would think, "Eh, give them ten years and they'll be back." So I thought that way with Mastodon and Brent Hinds. Give them time to cool off and have some retrospect on their nearly 30 years of collaboration. Sadly, that scenario wouldn't come to pass as Hinds would die not even five months after he was dismissed. He was hit by a vehicle after the driver failed to yield at an intersection. Brent was 51 years old. 

It's a strange feeling when you lose one of your heroes in music. Even weirder that he was badmouthing his bandmates in what was probably just anger that he was fired, but he nor his bandmates had closure over their falling out. Now they never will. No reunions. No second chances. No amending harsh feelings. That's it. Truly a devastating ending for one of my favorite bands. My heart truly goes out to Mastodon because God only knows how their bandmates feel. That's nearly 30 years of a musical relationship that ended bitterly. I'd feel awful if I was in that situation. They deserve better than that. 

I saw Mastodon live once. It was with the classic lineup and it was one of the greatest shows ever. They were coheadlining a tour with Coheed and Cambria (another favorite of mine) and Mastodon were playing Crack the Skye front to back. One of my favorite albums front to back? Oh man, I was in heaven. They were in tiptop shape too, especially Brent's playing. What a monster player he was. That's a night I'll never forget. And Brent's brilliant style is one of those reasons why. 

Rest easy, Brent. You're one of the greats...