MASTODON drummer/vocalist Brann Dailor has confirmed that the band's highly anticipated ninth studio album is finished.

The upcoming LP will be MASTODON's first without co-founding guitarist/vocalist Brent Hinds, who departed the band in March 2025 and passed away five months later due to a motorcycle accident.

Hinds was replaced by touring guitarist Nick Johnston, who reportedly contributed to the new studio album.

"We're very excited about it," Dailor told BLABBERMOUTH.NET in a recent interview.

"It was a hard record to make.

It was a very emotional time for us.

I lost my mom, we went through all this turmoil with Brent, and then he passed away.

It's been tough.

It's all in the music, it's all in the songs, and I'm excited to release it and get it out there into the world because we've been sitting on it for a while.

A lot of this stuff, at least the skeletons of what this album is, we've been sitting on for two years now.

A lot was going on." Dailor stated that the new studio album features no musical contributions from Hinds, saying, "No.

It's all new stuff.

Toward the end, unfortunately, it was hard to get him to come down to the [practice] space.

He was interested in doing other stuff, which was fine.

It was a confusing time.

[Laughs] I was the one going, 'Come on, man.

Come down.

Let's riff.' He was a free spirit.

He wanted to ride his motorcycle around and go do this and that.

He was wherever the wind took him.

Unfortunately, it was not down to the practice space to work on riffs.

It was a little bit frustrating.

I was okay with it.

I was like, 'Hey man, everyone can do whatever they want to do in their life.

If you're unhappy and not wanting to be here doing whatever, figure out what does make you happy and do that.'" The band's latest album, "Hushed And Grim", was a double LP recorded at the band's Atlanta studio, West End Sound, and featured Ben Eller on guitar when Hinds stepped in for TOOL's "Tool In The Sand" festival in March 2025.

For MASTODON's spring 2025 tour and other recent shows, the band enlisted Canadian musician Nick Johnston to step in for Hinds.