Before Red Rocks Concert, Mastodon Reflects on the 2004 Album That Changed Everything

No one ever thought a concept record about Moby Dick would turn out to be one of the best metal albums of the 21st century, including the four Mastodon members who wrote it twenty years ago.

“I remember before the idea of doing the concept, we had two records under our belt and were barely making a name for ourselves in the DIY world of heaviness. We were like, ‘Here’s this idea. We could make a bold statement with this record, or we could be shooting ourselves in the foot and it’s career suicide and we’re done,’” vocalist and bassist Troy Sanders recalls of the band’s 2004 release, Leviathan.

“Like, ‘Hey, heavy-metal band from Atlanta doing a concept album on Moby Dick!’ We weren’t sure," he continues. "Thankfully, all things leviathan aligned with fate, and we had this really cool, eclectic bunch of songs, and we had this really cool Moby Dick story and the folklore and everything and imagery.”

But now, as the group celebrates Leviathan’s seminal anniversary by playing the record in its entirety on tour, it’s clear that Sanders, Brann Dailor (drums and vocals), Brent Hinds (guitar and vocals) and Bill Kelliher (guitar) were on to something. Behind the hit single “Blood and Thunder,” which includes Clutch singer Neil Fallon and is still Mastodon’s most popular song with more than 77 million streams to date, Leviathan ultimately served as a mission statement for the quirky quartet that’s now known for writing some of the best alt-metal since forming in 2000.
“The record came out and it made a splash. Hey, no pun intended. But it really set us aside from other bands that we were in the same vein as and with, but for the better,” Sanders says. “We obviously didn’t’ know what was going to happen with that record, but it turned out to be wonderful.”

Mastodon resurrects the mythical white whale from Herman Melville’s 1851 novel on Thursday, August 29, at Red Rocks.

Mastodon is supporting the Hirshberg Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research during the tour, as well. The band partnered with the organization in 2018 after manager Nick John tragically passed away from pancreatic cancer. Since then, Mastodon has helped raise nearly $60,000 for the foundation.

Lamb of God, which is commemorating twenty years of record Ashes of the Wake, is also on the bill, along with Kerry King (yes, the Kerry King from Slayer) and Malevolence.

Leviathan and Ashes of the Wake dropped on the same day — August 31, 2004 — so the idea of putting together an "Ashes of Leviathan" anniversary run was always intriguing.

“We’ve been tossing this idea around for three years with the Lamb of God guys since their record came out the same day. Leviathan is our third album, and that’s what truly put us on the map in the world of heavy rock and roll,” Sanders shares. “It’s maintained this incredible life of longevity on its own. We really want to go celebrate it.”

“We love it. We did a great thing, and Leviathan had taken our band to heights we had always hoped for but never expected,” he continues.

In the four years prior to the record’s career-altering success, Mastodon was a road-hardened operation that made a name for itself thanks to spastic sets of what many considered proggy grindcore; still, it remained relatively unknown outside of the metal underground. The bandmates typically paid their own way and wouldn’t think twice about freshening up in public restrooms in those days. Then Leviathan, complete with Paul Romano’s trippy artwork, hit the mainstream, particularly the “Blood and Thunder” music video getting regular playtime on MTV. Mastodon had officially arrived.

“Right before Leviathan, we were on our third van, broke as hell, still touring every boat shed, VFW hall, basement dive bar. We played anywhere that someone would have us,” Sanders reminisces. “Then Leviathan came out, and boom — we get this awesome management who we’re still with twenty years later, we get a booking agent, and we’re playing massive theaters and arenas supporting Slayer. It was like, ‘Holy shit. The stage that we’re on now is bigger than the dive bar we played at the end of the last tour we did.’ It was monumental for our band.”

Since then, Mastodon has received several Grammy nominations, including winning Best Metal Performance, for song "Sultan's Cure" in 2018. But most of those Leviathan tracks haven’t seen the stage in quite some time. In the case of “Joseph Merrick,” it’s never been played in front of an audience before.

“We haven’t played that live ever,” Sanders says. “We haven’t played the song ‘Island’ in probably fifteen years, ‘Seabeast’ in ten-plus years. It’s cool to pull them all out and dig through the old tunes.”

Moby Dick may even make an appearance in some form. If that’s not enough motivation to get your ass to Red Rocks (remember, Lamb of God is sharing Ashes of the Wake in full, too), then maybe you need to check your pulse.

“All the sights and the sounds that you can ever want are going to be there. It’s going to be musical bliss,” Sanders concludes. “It’s going to be anything and everything that anyone could want. There you go — that’s it.”

Mastodon, with Lamb of God, Kerry King and Malevolence, 6 p.m. Thursday, August 29, Red Rocks Amphitheatre, 18300 West Alameda Parkway. Tickets are $79-$625.