Mastodon reveal artwork for new album

American metal band Mastodon have revealed artwork for what appears to be their new album 'Hushed and Grim'. The band shared the mysterious image on the band's social media pages and their fan e-mail blast. They haven't said much else about the album. It's expected to be released in a couple of months.

It'll be the band's first album of new material since the death of their manager Nick John and tour manager Bob Dallas. In 2020 Mastodon recorded a new song called "Rufus Lives" which was used in the the movie 'Bill and Ted Face The Music'.

In other Mastodon news drummer Brann Dailor spent his quarantine drawing creepy clowns. Now he's releasing them as a book. The book is titled 101 Clowns Of The Coronavirus.

There's images of clown versions of known icons such as Iron Maiden's Number Of The Beast album cover. A Jaws movie poster and even Lars Ulrich. Dailor tells Metal Hammer “Everybody’s fragile, and feeling kind of sad". He continues “Sometimes the clowns would pick them up, and sometimes the clowns would remind them of how special human relationships are and how much they miss everybody.”

“It’s this meditation that’s been important to my mental health throughout this experience,” he said. “Everyone is dealing with it in their own way, but for me it was imperative that I sit down and do this. I draw these two clowns hugging, like, ‘I needed that’, you know what I mean?”

“The clowns kept me from spiraling out during all the uncertainty,” Dailor explains in a new statement. “They kept me from sinking into a deep depression or experiencing crippling anxiety. The clowns were perfect for that — even the dark ones.”