MASTODON released "Hushed and Grim" on October 29, 2021 — a sprawling double album on Reprise and the most emotionally heavy work of the Atlanta quartet's career. Its fifteen songs, produced by David Bottrill, process the death of the band's beloved manager Nick John; drummer Brann Dailor said at least one verse in every track is dedicated to him. Grief bends the music into new shapes: "Pushing the Tides" earned a Grammy nomination for Best Metal Performance, and former SOUNDGARDEN guitarist Kim Thayil appears as a guest. The album topped Billboard's Hard Rock Albums chart, reached the UK Top 15 and landed on year-end lists across the press, with Rolling Stone naming it the second-best metal album of 2021. A meditation on loss delivered through prog-sludge muscle, "Hushed and Grim" showed metal's most restless band turning mourning into a monument.
