MASTODON have unveiled one of the strangest vinyl variants ever made: a pressing of their new album, Marrow Deep, that contains real fossilized mastodon teeth ground into fine dust. Only 170 copies exist.
The fossils came from a fan roughly two decades ago. They weren't fit for display, and the band never quite knew what to do with them — until the title and themes of Marrow Deep gave bassist/vocalist Troy Sanders the idea of pressing them into the record itself.
It took weeks of calls to pressing plants around the world before Loma Vista Recordings found a partner willing to try it in Waxworks Records. The geology department at the University of Georgia ground the bones into particles fine enough not to affect sound quality or playability, and the band went to the plant to sprinkle the dust and press every copy by hand. A making-of video went up on MASTODON's socials on October 9.
Because the supply of bone dust is finite, some copies are sold through a draw so fans and collectors get an equal shot. Registration is open on Loma Vista's store (link below).
Marrow Deep came out on August 28 via Loma Vista. It's MASTODON's first full-length without guitarist Brent Hinds, who was fired in March 2025 and died in a motorcycle accident five months later, and the first to feature new guitarist Nick Johnston, with major contributions from keyboardist João Nogueira. The band co-produced it at their own West End Sound in Atlanta with Patrik Berger and Kurt Ballou; Andrew Scheps mixed it.
The band is currently on "The Poisonous Weapons" tour of North America with DEAFHEAVEN and ALCEST, which plays the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles on October 10 and wraps up at Sick New World in Fort Worth, Texas, on October 24.
We've followed MASTODON since the start — our review of their 2002 debut Remission gave it a perfect 10/10. Read it here.
Order the bone dust edition of "Marrow Deep": Loma Vista store