Mastodon Go ‘Toe to Toes’ in Mystical New Song

Yes! It's already been a great 2017 with Mastodon having released one of the year's best metal albums in Emperor of Sand and the new music is still coming! The quartet recently announced they'd be issuing a follow-up EP, Cold Dark Place, on September 22 and have served up "Toe to Toes" as the first new offering.

The track opens up with light, mystical guitar work before careening into a more typical Mastodon affair with a swirling, psychedelic lead. Even with Brann Dailor's busy stick work, "Toe to Toes" maintains a somewhat subdued quality with fluid bass lines and an expressive vocal delivery from Troy Sanders. He trades lines with Brent Hinds, who adds his touch over the chorus, which features airy playing that slides into a more triumphant mood when the solo comes in at the mid point.

Pre-orders for the EP are available now through a number of different platforms and all reservations will come with an instant gratification download of "Toe to Toes."

We caught up with Hinds at the NAMM convention earlier this year and asked him about the extra material he had written. “I have way too many albums sitting around. I’ve been marinating on some of them for years thinking, ‘I don’t know if I even like this.’ All of a sudden, a friend of mine wanted to listen to it and I listened to it and I was like, ‘I wrote this? This is amazing! We should put this out.’ We’re putting out an album that I wrote entirely by myself called Cold Dark Place, which is basically myself. I’m a cold dark place. It’s the concept of living and how much it hurts to f—king be alive.”

Mastodon have also been nominated for Metal Artist of the Year and Metal Album of the Year in the 2017 Loudwire Music Awards. Brent Hinds and Bill Kelliher are nominated for Best Guitarist(s) and Brann Dailor is up for Best Drummer. You can cast your votes here and the winners will be revealed live on Oct. 24 at the 2017 Loudwire Music Awards ceremony and concert. For tickets and more information, head to this location.

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