For all the discussion of Mastodon’s latest album, Marrow Deep – their first since the passing of guitarist Brent Hinds – Troy Sanders is quick to point out that the album’s biggest bass guitar moment doesn’t actually belong to him. Instead, it comes courtesy of one of his lifelong heroes.
“There’s definitely a bass highlight on this record,” Sanders tells Bass Player. “But it isn’t me.”
Following their appearance at Black Sabbath’s 2025 farewell celebration, the band decided to take a chance.
“We’d just played the Back to the Beginning show and I thought, ‘What’s the worst that can happen if we ask Geezer to guest on our album? He could say no?’
“We knew he was aware of us because he’d mentioned Mastodon in his autobiography as a band he enjoyed listening to. That blew our minds.”
Rather than asking for anything specific, the band sent Butler a handful of songs.
“We wanted him to hear where the record was going and see if anything inspired him, and he sent back this incredible bass solo that became the introduction to a song called The Vanishing. It’s a very Sabbath-inspired track. It’s definitely the bass highlight of the album. And I’m completely happy saying that.
“Everything went through management. We’ve never actually met face to face. At the Sabbath show at Villa Park, it was a madhouse in the Sabbath area, so the idea of trying to go back there just didn’t feel right.
“We’re hoping to finally meet when we’re touring the States later this year because he’ll be near one of our days off. If we can actually sit down together, that’ll complete the whole circle.”
Ask Sanders where any aspiring rock bass player should begin and his answer comes without hesitation.
“Black Sabbath. Everything we do traces back to those four guys. They created the genre that we call home.
“I tell my son the same thing. He’s started playing bass, so I said, ‘Just learn any Sabbath songs.’ They’re challenging enough to train your ears, and your fingers.”
For all the anticipation surrounding the new album, not to mention the accolades Mastodon have already accumulated – including a 2018 Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance – Sanders remains sceptical about buying into the mythology of rock stardom.
“You work incredibly hard to make records and tour the world, so when somebody genuinely connects with what you’ve created, that’s validating. So it’s okay to give yourself a little pat on the back occasionally, but it’s dangerous to start believing your own hype.
“When Mastodon started back in 2000, none of us sat around waiting for somebody to discover us. We got in a van and made things happen ourselves. That mentality has never changed.”
