Nick Johnston
Pull a thread
Mastodon's *Marrow Deep*: one voice out, two members in
Brent Hinds was gone before a single note of this record was tracked. What Mastodon did next was fill the space with two new members instead of a replacement.
The aggregator headline writes itself: first Mastodon album without Brent Hinds. It is true, and it is the least interesting sentence you can write about Marrow Deep.
Here is the more useful way in. Mastodon went into the studio down a guitarist and came out a five-piece. Nick Johnston took the guitar chair, and keyboard player João Nogueira became an official member. Nine albums in, this is the first one made by five people. Something got added here.