Few figures in modern music possessed the singular strangeness and conviction of Brent Hinds. His guitar work with Mastodon carved out a sound at once caustic and oddly transcendent. His death was confirmed by bandmates on August 21 following a motorcycle crash the night before.
And it ended a chapter not only for fans of progressive metal but for anyone who followed Hinds’s unpredictable, often combustible presence in American rock. “We are in a state of unfathomable sadness and grief… last night Brent Hinds passed away as a result of a tragic accident,” the band shared publicly, their statement spare but visibly shaken.
Mastodon Co-Founder Brent Hinds Dies in Fatal Crash, Leaving Behind a Legacy of Raw Innovation and Internal Fracture
For over two decades, Hinds had operated with a kind of aggressive eccentricity that made Mastodon stand apart from its genre peers. His style, described by some as “wildly intuitive” and by others as simply “unruly,” was neither easily copied nor fully understood.
Even within his own group, consensus was elusive. Though Billboard reported earlier this year that Hinds and the band had “mutually decided to part ways.” Hinds himself dismissed that version of events, accusing his former collaborators of having “forced” him out. He called them “horrible humans”, a remark that, even now, casts a shadow over the band’s public tribute.
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Still, the loss of Hinds has prompted an outpouring from listeners across generations, who regarded him not as a perfect figure, but as an irreplaceable one. “We are heartbroken, shocked, and still trying to process the loss of this creative force,” Mastodon’s statement continued. “RIP Brent,” they wrote in closing. Two words that hardly seem sufficient for someone so defiantly, consistently difficult to sum up.
