Blabbermouth reports that the new Mastodon album was inspired by a head injury. I’m not making shit shit up:

MASTODON guitarist/vocalist Brent Hinds has told RollingStone.com that the origins of the group’s forthcoming fourth album can be traced to the pavement in front of the Mandalay Bay casino in Las Vegas. That’s where Hinds was attacked and cracked his head open during a drunken altercation following the MTV VMAs in September 2007. Hinds suffered brain hemorrhaging, and then, as he recovered, he was plagued by vertigo.

“I was dizzy for eight months,” he said. “During those months, I just sat with my acoustic and a little marijuana, and wrote all the music. I wanted a more melodic, easy-listening situation, and that definitely came from having head trauma.”

Now you know why the next Mastodon album will suck yards of elephant cock. I think head trauma is the reason for their fanbase too, because I don’t think anyone without a brain injury could listen to that shit and like it, let alone call it “metal.”