Metal
Brent Hinds’s estate filed a civil lawsuit against Mastodon on 3 September at Fulton County court in Georgia. The band responded with a statement on the 11th.
The lawsuit makes three claims: that Hinds never sold his stake in the band’s business before he died, that his likeness was used on the cover of «Marrow Deep» despite him not playing on it, and that his bandmates shared private details about him in the documentary «The Mastodon In The Room». Mastodon had offered him an eighty-thousand-dollar cheque to buy out his share, but Hinds never signed the separation agreement. The estate is holding onto that cheque until there’s a full accounting of what the stake is actually worth.
«Unfortunately, a private business dispute with the estate of our beloved friend Brent Hinds has become public,» reads the band’s statement. «We firmly deny the accusations of wrongdoing on our part and intend to vigorously defend ourselves against a lawsuit we consider baseless. We don’t intend to discuss it further publicly, because we don’t believe that would honour Brent’s memory or the legacy of his musical gifts.»
Hinds founded Mastodon in Atlanta in 2000 with Brann Dailor, Bill Kelliher and Troy Sanders, and was its guitarist and one of its three vocalists for twenty-five years. The split was announced in March 2025, and he died on 20 August that year in a motorcycle accident. «Marrow Deep» is the band’s first record without him, with Nick Johnston on guitar and João Nogueira on keyboards.
This week the band announced that John Baizley, of Baroness, is joining the touring line-up for the autumn tour.
Text by Roger Estivill