Mastodon Guitarist and Vocalist Brent Hinds Is Leaving the Band After 25 Years

Brent Hinds, who has been a guitarist and vocalist with Mastodon for 25 years, has left the band. The news is rocking the world of heavy metal, in part because many fans believed that the band would stay together for good.

Following the news of the split, many wanted to better understand what might have motivated the band to part ways with someone who had been so crucial to the group for so long. Here's what we know.

The group announced the departure in a post on Facebook, saying that it was a mutual decision.

“Friends and Fans, after 25 monumental years together, Mastodon and Brent Hinds have mutually decided to part ways. We’re deeply proud of and beyond grateful for the music and history we’ve shared and we wish him nothing but success and happiness in his future endeavors.”

"We are still very inspired and excited to show up for fans in this next chapter of Mastodon," they continued. "As we move forward, all 2025 touring plans will remain intact. We look forward to seeing you on the road."

Brent has not released any statement himself to explain, and it seems possible that he's content to let Mastodon's post explain why he left. While we don't know his reasons for sure, fans have pointed out that he was never a big metal fan.

In spite of the fact that he's spent the majority of his adult life in a metal band, it turns out that Brent doesn't actually like the music all that much.

“I never really liked heavy metal in the first place. I came from Alabama playing country music, surf rock, rockabilly, and stuff like that," he once told Guitar Player magazine. "I just went through a phase in my twenties where I thought it was rebellious to play heavy metal."

"And then I met Brann [Dailor, Mastodon drummer] and Bill [Kelliher], and they were really, really, really into heavy metal," he continued. "And ever since then, I’ve been trying to get Mastodon to not be such a heavy metal band, because I f--king hate heavy metal, and I don’t want to be in a heavy metal band.”

Given how much he hates the music, it's perhaps unsurprising that Brent eventually decided he didn't want to be part of the band anymore.

Brent was a crucial part of what made Mastodon the success that it was, and it brought him plenty of personal success too. At some point, though, it seems that genuine creative differences about what kind of band Mastodon should be might have driven him away from the band.

There are certainly plenty of Mastodon fans who will be sad to see Brent go, even if the decision was a mutual parting. Mastodon will soldier on, but it will never be the same without one of its core members, even if that core member always secretly hated the music he was playing.