Nick Johnston has been Mastodon's guitarist since 2025, when he first came in as a stand-in and had his place confirmed shortly afterwards. Born in Canada in 1987, he came to the band by an unusual route: he built his reputation as a solo instrumental guitarist, with no ties to any established metal group. His own work consists of records without vocals, in which the guitar carries melody and harmony alone — territory that demands a sense of composition, not merely technique. It is a very different profile from Brent Hinds's, whose signature came from Southern blues and unpredictability, and that difference is precisely the point: instead of hiring an imitator, Mastodon brought in someone with a vocabulary of his own. His arrival coincides with the largest reconfiguration in the band's history. After Hinds's departure and death, the group expanded from four members to five, also taking on keyboardist João Nogueira, and Johnston plays on Marrow Deep, the ninth studio album, announced for 28 August 2026 — the first without the co-founder. From it came the singles "Snakes for Dinner", featuring Josh Homme, and "Your Ghost Again".
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