MASTODON: 'The Hunter' Artwork Unveiled

The cover artwork for "The Hunter", the new album from Atlanta progressive metallers MASTODON, can be seen below. The illustration was created by AJ Fosik, a wood carver who is also responsible for the backdrop the band uses live. This marks the first time MASTODON has not used acclaimed artist Paul Romano, who was responsible for all of the group's previous artwork.

You can see some of AJ Fosik's other work at this location.

Tentatively due in October via Reprise Records, "The Hunter" will contain the following tracks, among others:

* Blasteroids
* The Octopus Has No Friends
* Stargasm
* Curl Of The Burl
* All The Heavy Lifting
* The Sparrow
* The Ruiner

When asked about the sound of MASTODON's forthcoming album, drummer Brann Dailor told the German edition of Metal Hammer magazine, "When you listen to the songs, they don't sound as 'fun' as we perceive them to be, I guess; it's still pretty extremely heavy material." He added, "We had a few songs that were kind of, not left over from 'Crack The Skye', but just stuff that we wanted to be on that album, but that album kind of took on a whole different thing of its own and there were a few stragglers that were super-heavy and crazy that didn't make it, and we finally got to put them on this record. And then we wrote a whole bunch of brand new stuff. There's, like, 14 songs that we recorded. And it's sort all over the place — a lot of different sounds. Some straight-up classic-rock-sounding songs, straight-up death metal-sounding songs and some completely bizarre, weirdo rock songs that we're not really sure what they are, but we love them."

"The Hunter" was recorded at Doppler Studios in Atlanta with producer Mike Elizondo. Drum tracks were previously completed in Los Angeles at the legendary Sound City Studios where NIRVANA's masterwork "Nevermind" was recorded.

MASTODON is currently in Europe for a summer-long tour that includes all dates on this year's Sonisphere festival as well as the Rock Im Park, Rock Am Ring, Roskilde festivals and more. The band will also play a one-off show at The Gorge in Seattle on July 30 with SOUNDGARDEN, QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, and MEAT PUPPETS.
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