The fallout between Mastodon and former vocalist and guitarist Brent Hinds continues to spill into the public eye. Hinds, who was reportedly fired from the band in early 2025 after a 25-year run, has taken several social media shots at his former bandmates throughout the year — and his latest tirade is one of the harshest yet.
In a recent post, Hinds accused bassist and vocalist Troy Sanders and drummer and vocalist Brann Dailor of being unable to sing in key without heavy studio manipulation. "My Guitar sounds great, but Troy and prawn [an apparent nickname for Brann] sound absolutely horrible… they are way out of key," Hinds wrote, claiming the band kicked him out for "embarrassing them for being who I am."
"My Guitar sounds great, but Troy and prawn sound absolutely horrible ..they are way out of key ..embarrassing and they kicked me out of the band for embarrassing them for being who I am ..but what about who they are ?" wrote Hinds.
"They are two people that can't sing..together live or anywhere else in the world ..everything they try to sing in the studio is manipulated by autotune because they're incapable of singing in key..fuck these guys ..only I know who they really are ..they are the biggest fans of them self's .. I've never seen anyone in my life look in the mirror more than Troy Sanders. He thinks he's God's gift to anything. I've never met three people that were so full of themselves. It's disgusting."
The remarks follow earlier jabs from Hinds, including calling Mastodon "a sh*t band with horrible humans." Until now, the group has largely avoided responding publicly — but this time, Brann Dailor offered a sly, understated reply in his Instagram stories shared originally by a fan (see a screenshot below). 
Mastodon officially announced Hinds' departure in March, ending one of progressive metal's longest-standing lineups. The split, and the increasingly heated commentary around it, has left fans divided — with some taking sides and others simply hoping both camps focus on the music rather than the mudslinging.
Mastodon surprisingly split with Hinds on March 5, marking the end of an era for the Grammy-winning progressive metal band. Mastodon then played their first Hinds-less show on March 9 at Tool's Live In The Sand with YouTube Ben Eller filling in, and has since recruited Nick Johnston for their live shows. Though Mastodon committed to a permanent replacement for Brent Hinds full-time in the band just yet.
Mastodon's Bill Kelliher has spoken pretty extensively about Hinds' split with the band, saying in an interview with Guitar World around the time of the split that he was amazed that Mastodon made it a quarter of a century with the same guys in the band.
"What can you say about the legacy of Mastodon's first 25 years with Brent? It's been a fun, wild fucking ride, that's for sure. We achieved a lot of things that I never in a million years would have imagined. There's been Grammys, touring with our heroes, like Iron Maiden, Metallica, Motorhead, and Tool. I cherish all of that. Like a marriage, sometimes people grow apart, and they get interested in other things. We wish nothing but the best for Brent in chasing his dreams.
Kelliher continued: "You know, it's amazing that we made it 25 years with the four of us. I mean, it's like being married to three other dudes, traveling the world, trying to stay the course, and having everybody agree. That we managed to do it this long, I feel like that's a feat in itself. You could never replace any of us because we [are the] the sum of four parts."
"That doesn't mean there's not someone else out there that has stuff to offer in a new direction," he concluded. "I think I'll just leave it there, you know? It was a hard decision we all had to make. It's just… it was just time."
Hinds has never made a public comment about what happened or how he feels about his split with Mastodon… though he has made some comments on Instagram, which give us a good idea of where his head's at in terms of his former bandmates.
