Mastodon recently spoke to MTV about their upcoming major label debut for Warner. The record is the follow up to 2004's Leviathan and their first for the major label.

The band enlisted the aid of a number of like minded musicians including Scott Kelly of Neurosis, Mars Volta keyboardist Ikey Owens, and Mars Volta frontman Cedric Bixler Zavala, who sings on "The Siberian Divide." Though the band wouldn't reveal the entire "plot" of the album, they did explain that it "will revolve around an unnamed citizen's ascension to the apex of a snowcapped mountain."

The band is planning to wrap up recording at the end of the week, and has been working on the album for the past two months. They recorded with producer Matt Bayles and a release is expected in August.