Mastodon has publicly denied wrongdoing after Brent Hinds's estate sued the band, with the group calling the Fulton County Court lawsuit "meritless" and saying it will "vigorously defend" itself while declining further public comment out of respect for Hinds's memory. The suit, filed last week, names bassist Troy Sanders, guitarist Bill Kelliher and drummer Brann Dailor as defendants, and follows last month's release of Marrow Deep, the band's first album since Hinds died in a motorcycle crash last summer.

New details in the filing trace the dispute to Hinds's acrimonious March 2025 departure from Mastodon, five months before his death, during which the band's cordial public statements contrasted with Hinds's hostile social media posts about his former bandmates. The estate says Mastodon had proposed a confidential buyout of Hinds's stake in the band's companies, but he never signed the agreement before he was killed; it separately says a subsequent $80,000 cheque was not accompanied by supporting calculations and remains uncashed. The lawsuit also objects to the band's use of Marrow Deep's cover art, which depicts a skull resembling Hinds, and criticises a pre-release video in which surviving members discussed his alleged substance use, arguing this disclosed private matters he had kept from the public while alive.