Mastodon

Formed by drummer Brann Dailor and guitarist Bill Keliher after meeting at a High On Fire show in 1999, Mastodon have turned heads, damaged eardrums, resurrected the twin guitar sorcery of Thin Lizzy and gotten themselves nominated for a Grammy while putting out records that perennially crack the top 10 in critics' year-end best-of polls. Following a nine-song demo in 2000 and an EP in 2001, the quartet released a full-length called Remission in 2002. But it was the Moby Dick-themed Leviathan (2004) that gained them national recognition, and after their third record (Call of the Mastodon, a compilation of early material) appeared in 2006, the band switched from Relapse Records to Warner Bros. and released Blood Mountain later that year. Blood Mountain garnered Mastodon a Grammy nomination for Best Metal Performance. With appearances in video-game soundtracks, on late-night TV shows and at countless festivals -- not to mention the well-deserved respect they have in metal circles -- Mastodon represent one of the very high points of the extreme music genre.