Mastodon, who other than Meshuggah (and perhaps the Mars Volta) may be the undisputed champions of contemproary metal, have been on the road lately with Mayhem, Disturbed, and Slipknot before heading on the Unholy Alliance Tour with Slayer. In the meantime, however, Mastodon vocalist/bassist Troy Sanders was interviewed by ARTISTdirect's Rick Florino. Among discussions of their live set and dealing with Slipknot fans, Sanders had the following to say on Mastodon's new album:

We finished the bulk of it. All of the basic tracks are done. We finished them on the Monday before we flew out to Seattle to start this tour. We go home on August 23rd. Then we have 10 days booked in the studio to touch up things, add any bells and whistles, take away anything we don't want, mix it and then figure out the sequencing. We have until Labor Day to finish it. We're hoping that it comes out in January. It should see light at the beginning of 2009. On the one hand, we're like, "We wish it would get here quicker" and on the other, we're like, "It'll be here before we know it." It's still cool...

As for how the latest from Mastodon sounds, Sanders said, "I think it's become more spacious, melodic and a bit more epic, in the grand scheme of things." All metal goes for epic to some extent, but part of Blood Mountain and Leviathan's charms were how grounded they sounded while still being as heavy and symphonic as all hell. Still, a new release by Mastodon will easily be one of the most heavily anticipated releases of this coming January.

[ARTISTdirect]