MASTODON have issued a statement after the estate of late co-founder and guitarist Brent Hinds filed a lawsuit against the band, firmly denying suggestions that they acted with malicious intent towards their former bandmate or his legacy.
This is an incredibly sad chapter in what was already a complicated and emotional story.
MASTODON have responded publicly to legal action involving the estate of Brent Hinds, with the Atlanta metal giants stating that they โstrongly deny allegations of ill intentโ on their part.
Given Hindsโ enormous importance to MASTODONโs history โ and the turbulent circumstances surrounding his final period away from the band โ this was never going to be an ordinary business dispute.
It involves decades of shared music, friendship, creative history and ultimately grief.
And now lawyers are involved.
โ๏ธ MASTODON Break Their Silence
Addressing the lawsuit, MASTODON have pushed back against any suggestion that their actions concerning Hinds were motivated by hostility.
The band stated:
โWe strongly deny allegations of ill intent on our part.โ
Itโs a short line, but an important one.
The case remains a legal matter, meaning the allegations contained within the lawsuit are exactly that โ allegations โ and MASTODON are entitled to dispute them.
Until the legal process reaches some form of conclusion, declaring either side definitively right or wrong would be jumping several very large fences.
๐ A Relationship Stretching Back To MASTODONโs Beginning
What makes the situation particularly difficult is the sheer amount of history involved.
Brent Hinds wasnโt a musician who briefly passed through MASTODON.
He was one of the architects of the whole bloody thing.
Alongside Troy Sanders, Bill Kelliher and Brann Dailor, Hinds helped transform an ambitious Atlanta metal band into one of the most distinctive heavy acts of the 21st century.
For around a quarter of a century, that four-man chemistry was MASTODON.
It produced riffs that twisted in completely unexpected directions, enormous concept records, psychedelic detours and enough technical madness to keep guitar nerds occupied until retirement.
That history doesnโt suddenly vanish because a working relationship ends.
๐ธ Brent Hinds Was Completely Unique
There was always something wonderfully unpredictable about Hindsโ playing.
He could sound like a southern-rock guitarist who had accidentally wandered into progressive metal.
Then heโd throw in country picking.
Then psychedelia.
Then something filthy and sludgy.
Then a solo that seemed determined to escape the song entirely before somehow landing exactly where it needed to.
It was unmistakably Brent.
MASTODONโs sound came from four very different musicians crashing into one another, and Hinds supplied a considerable amount of that danger.
Trying to imagine albums such as Leviathan, Blood Mountain or Crack The Skye without his contribution is practically impossible.
๐ From Remission To Hushed And Grim
The Hinds era covers virtually all of the records that established MASTODON as a modern metal institution.
Remission introduced the brutal early version.
Leviathan turned Moby-Dick into one of the defining metal albums of its generation.
Because apparently Herman Melville just needed more riffs.
Blood Mountain pushed things towards increasingly strange progressive territory.
Then Crack The Skye arrived and demonstrated just how ambitious the band could become.
Astral projection.
Tsarist Russia.
Rasputin.
Prog metal.
Normal Tuesday afternoon stuff.
Later records continued shifting between heaviness, melody, experimentation and increasingly prominent vocal contributions from across the group.
Whatever version of MASTODON you prefer, Hinds is woven throughout that history.
๐ค His Departure Was Already Complicated
When Hinds and MASTODON went their separate ways, the end of the partnership quickly became one of metalโs biggest talking points.
Twenty-five years is an extraordinary length of time for four creative personalities to remain together.
Bands are strange relationships.
You write together.
Tour together.
Live on buses together.
Spend ridiculous amounts of time in airports together.
Argue.
Make up.
Celebrate.
Experience losses.
Experience success.
Then do it again hundreds of times.
It can resemble family, friendship and business all simultaneously.
And sometimes those three things collide horribly.
MASTODON initially attempted to move into their next chapter while acknowledging the enormous history they had shared with Hinds.
But it soon became obvious publicly that the circumstances surrounding the split were considerably more painful than a straightforward friendly goodbye.
๐ฏ๏ธ Then Everything Changed
Hindsโ subsequent death transformed the situation completely.
Whatever disagreements existed beforehand suddenly became frozen in time.
There would be no future reunion.
No eventual handshake.
No chance to sit down ten years later and laugh about whatever everybody had been furious about.
That finality makes the entire situation considerably more tragic.
Anyone who has ever lost somebody following an unresolved disagreement will understand just how complicated grief can become.
Love and anger can exist simultaneously.
So can disappointment.
So can wonderful memories.
Human relationships are messy.
MASTODONโs history with Brent Hinds appears to have contained plenty of all of those things.
๐ฅ MASTODON Have Spoken About Their Grief
Since losing Hinds, the remaining members have spoken publicly about what he meant to them.
Their memories havenโt necessarily attempted to turn him into some flawless mythical figure either.
Instead, theyโve discussed a complicated person they spent a huge portion of their lives alongside.
That can be uncomfortable.
But grief frequently is.
There is a strange expectation placed upon people after somebody dies that every difficult memory should suddenly disappear.
Real relationships donโt work like that.
Someone can drive you absolutely bloody insane and still be somebody you love deeply.
Those two things arenโt mutually exclusive.
โ๏ธ Now The Dispute Has Entered The Courts
The fact that the disagreement has now become a lawsuit inevitably changes the tone.
Legal cases require precision.
Ownership matters.
Contracts matter.
Business interests matter.
Rights matter.
Words matter.
And emotionally charged public commentary rarely makes any of those things easier.
MASTODONโs response therefore appears deliberately restrained.
They deny wrongdoing.
Beyond that, the courts will deal with the competing claims.
Thatโs probably where this needs to be handled.
๐ค Fans Should Be Careful About Picking Teams
Naturally, metal fans have opinions.
We always do.
Tell two metalheads to discuss whether Leviathan or Crack The Skye is better and you might accidentally create a three-hour podcast.
But this situation is different.
Fans werenโt inside those business arrangements.
We werenโt present for private conversations between the band members.
We donโt know every agreement made during 25 years together.
And we certainly donโt know everything being discussed between lawyers now.
Supporting Brentโs musical legacy does not require attacking MASTODON.
Supporting MASTODON does not require insulting Brentโs estate.
This isnโt football.
You donโt need a scarf for one side.
๐ฅ MASTODON Continue Into A New Era
Meanwhile, MASTODON themselves continue moving forward.
That process was always going to be strange.
When a musician has contributed to a bandโs identity for 25 years, there is no straightforward replacement.
The sound changes.
The chemistry changes.
The personalities in the rehearsal room change.
And thatโs probably healthier than finding somebody whose only job is pretending to be Brent Hinds.
You cannot recreate somebody that distinctive.
MASTODONโs future has to become its own thing while the records created with Hinds remain permanently part of the bandโs foundation.
๐ถ Nothing Changes The Music They Made Together
Whatever eventually happens with the lawsuit, it cannot rewrite the albums.
Those records exist.
The tours happened.
The riffs happened.
The ridiculous guitar solos happened.
Thousands of fans discovered heavy music through them.
People got tattoos inspired by those records.
Bands formed because of them.
Musicians learned those songs badly in bedrooms around the world and discovered that MASTODON riffs are significantly easier to enjoy than actually play.
That is the legacy.
Court documents cannot erase it.
๐ค THE RIFF REPORT VERDICT
There isnโt much about this story that feels satisfying.
MASTODON and Brent Hinds created extraordinary music together for roughly 25 years.
Now, after Hindsโ death, part of the unfinished business surrounding that relationship has ended up inside a courtroom.
Thatโs genuinely sad.
MASTODON have now made their position clear:
They strongly deny acting with ill intent.
Brent Hindsโ estate has made its own claims through the lawsuit.
From here, the legal process should determine what actually happened and what โ if anything โ is owed or needs resolving.
For everybody outside that process, perhaps the most sensible thing is to avoid turning a complicated human tragedy into online team sport.
Brent Hinds helped create one of modern metalโs great catalogues.
Troy Sanders, Bill Kelliher and Brann Dailor helped create it alongside him.
Those two statements can exist together.
Hopefully, whatever comes next allows everyone involved to eventually find some resolution.
Because after all the riffs, tours, arguments, triumphs and tragedy, 25 years of shared history deserves something better than becoming nothing more than a court battle.
Long live the music. And rest in power, Brent Hinds. ๐ค๐ค
