on July 15, with $1 from each sale of a ticket/merchandise package going toward supporting the aquarium. Mastodon released their eighth studio album Hushed and Grim on October 29, 2021. The album is produced by David Bottrill, who has worked previously with such artists as Muse, Tool, and Rush. Characteristics Musical style Mastodon has been described as a heavy metal band, along with more specific genres such as progressive metal, sludge metal, alternative metal, stoner rock, psychedelic metal, experimental metal, and groove metal. James Christopher Monger of AllMusic describes Mastodon as "one of the more notable new wave of American heavy metal acts, a genre spawned in the mid-'90s" and says that "Mastodon's innovative, lyrically astute blend of progressive metal, grindcore, and hardcore helped position the band as one of the preeminent metal acts of the early 21st century." Bassist Troy Sanders stated about their musical style: Scott Kelly of Neurosis has appeared to perform guest vocals on a track on every Mastodon album excluding Remission and Hushed and Grim. Mastodon's musical style has evolved much from their earliest pre-Remission releases to The Hunter. Their early work is significantly heavier and more abrasive than their later work, primarily or exclusively using harsh vocals, more distorted instruments, and more atypical song structures. The release of Mastodon's third studio album, Blood Mountain, which incorporates both clean and harsh vocals, marked a shift in the vocal styles used, with subsequent albums favoring clean vocals almost exclusively. Lyrical themes Over its first four albums, Mastodon had specific concepts in mind, specifically the classical elements of fire, water, earth, and aether. Remission does not deal with a particular theme but it is loosely based on the theme of fire. Songs like "Crusher Destroyer", "Where Strides the Behemoth" and "Ol'e Nessie" deal with the theme of fictional creatures. Leviathan is about the novel Moby-Dick. It centers around the main characters and their thoughts during the story. Blood Mountain is about a man who is searching for the "Crystal Skull", which is on top of the "Blood Mountain". According to bassist Troy Sanders, "It's about climbing up a mountain and the different things that can happen to you when you're stranded on a mountain, in the woods, and you're lost. You're starving, hallucinating, running into strange creatures. You're being hunted. It's about that whole struggle." Crack the Skye deals with many different themes. The title, as well