This year marks the 20th anniversary of Blood Mountain, the 2006 album that saw Atlanta metal band Mastodon move from cult underground favourites to major label breakthrough artists, released on September 12. The record, their third and first for a major label, built on the acclaim of 2002's Remission and 2004's Leviathan by pushing their sound further into psychedelic, progressive territory, cementing their reputation as one of metal's most inventive acts of the era.

The retrospective draws on a contemporaneous interview conducted with the band while touring that summer, in which guitarist Bill Kelliher and bassist/vocalist Troy Sanders (referred to in the piece as Brent) discuss the album's themes and imagery, including differing interpretations of its title and concept as representing brotherhood, sacrifice and journey. The piece also touches on the band's past experiences with psychedelics, including mescaline and LSD, which influenced the album's hallucinatory character, alongside references to key musical touchstones such as Melvins, Metallica's "The Call of Ktulu", Kyuss and Slayer.