Mastodon

The band's 2002 debut album, Remission, released through Relapse Records, earned strong critical acclaim, but it was their sophomore effort that truly launched them into wider recognition. Their second album, 2004's Leviathan, was a concept set based on Moby Dick, Herman Melville's iconic novel of whaling and obsession, and became the band's commercial breakthrough, regarded critically as one of the most important albums in genre history. Three magazines awarded the record Album of the Year in 2004: Revolver, Kerrang! and Terrorizer. Momentum continued to build with 2006's Blood Mountain, which debuted at number 32 on the Billboard charts and received a Grammy nomination in the Best Metal Performance category for the song "Colony of Birchmen." The unchanged lineup of Sanders, Hinds, Kelliher, and Dailor, all of whom contributed vocals, became one of modern metal's most celebrated quartets, praised for blending progressive complexity with visceral heaviness.

The band's career arc continued through a string of ambitious, often conceptual albums. Crack the Skye debuted at number 11 on the Billboard 200, selling 41,000 copies in its first week , and drew acclaim for its exploration of astral projection and czarist Russia. 2011's conceptual The Hunter reflected the band's embrace of prog, channeling disparate influences ranging from King Crimson to Opeth , broadening their commercial appeal further. 2017's Emperor of Sand debuted inside the Top Ten and was nominated for a Grammy for Best Rock Album, and the single "Sultan's Curse" took home the award for Best Metal Performance at the 2018 ceremony, marking the band's first career Grammy win . Along the way, Mastodon toured extensively, collaborated with producer Brendan O'Brien across multiple records, and built a reputation as one of the defining acts of modern progressive metal, with Loudwire naming them the 20th-best metal band of all time in 2016 .

In 2021, the band released Hushed and Grim, an 86-minute record, their lengthiest album and their first double album , which would prove to be their final release with the original lineup. In March 2025, longtime guitarist and vocalist Brent Hinds parted ways with the band after 25 years, and Hinds died just five months later in a motorcycle accident. The surviving members, Sanders, Kelliher, and Dailor, have continued touring and recording, with touring guitarist Nick Johnston, who is also expected to appear on Mastodon's upcoming studio album , carrying the band's legacy of restless reinvention and genre-defying ambition into a new chapter.

For this archive, Mastodon holds a particular place of honor. Wayne Dennon photographed the band on two separate occasions between 2004 and 2010, capturing them across two different cities during a period that spanned some of their most transformative years as artists, from the Leviathan era through the Crack the Skye tour. Those two shows yielded 51 photographs now preserved in this collection, images that have drawn 39,926 views from visitors exploring Wayne's archive, a testament to both his eye behind the lens and the enduring pull of a band that never stopped evolving.