Mastodon

Mastodon play heavy metal with a prog-rock imagination: tangled, sludgy riffs, busy, jazz-inflected drumming and vocals that range from gruff roars to soaring harmonies.

Their early albums were loosely built around the elements, with Leviathan retelling Moby-Dick, and Blood Mountain and Crack the Skye grew into epic, psychedelic concept records, the latter inspired by drummer Brann Dailor's late sister. The Hunter and Once More 'Round the Sun tightened the songs, and Emperor of Sand won them a Grammy for 'Sultan's Curse'.