Back in 2014, Mastodon released its very rock n' roll record Once More 'Round The Sun. Following that album was a supposed EP of songs that had a very different vibe to them, and while the EP was talked about from time to time, it never happened.
Fast forward to March of this year and the band made it known that a new record was in the works for 2016. Now in an interview with 93.3 WMMR, drummer Brann Dailor says that a new album is currently being formed out of new riffs and from song ideas that were supposed to constitute the 2014 EP.
"At the moment, it's just a ton of riffs, and they're kind of starting to form songs now, so we kind of have a… And we have some stuff that didn't make the last record, and not because it wasn't awesome, but it just didn't fit the vibe of the stuff we had more of. And we were gonna do this winter EP thing, but that material's kind of morphed into more than just that, so I think it'll warrant a full album release. So we have that stuff, and then we have a whole new crop of songs. We have a lot of material, so we have to whittle it down at the moment. And we're still just kind of experimenting. We go over to Bill's [Kelliher, guitar] basement and sit down there and riff out, and throw everything up against the wall and see what sticks."
Interesting! It almost sounds like the 2014 EP and the new stuff could maybe be two separate releases? That's pure conjecture based on how Dailor worded that statement though, so don't quote me on that. Either way, new Mastodon in 2016 (probably)!