Troy Sanders says that MASTODON will begin work on its new album in the fall. The effort will mark the band's first release since 2017's "Emperor Of Sand", which won the group a Grammy in the "Best Metal Performance" category for the song "Sultan's Curse".

Asked by Consequence Of Sound if it was MASTODON's original plan to begin work on a new disc in early 2019, the singer/bassist said: "Well, that was the intention. We just completed the European tour in February and months ago, it felt like that would be a good stopping point of the 'Emperor Of Sand' touring cycle. But then this opportunity came up to co-headline [a tour] with COHEED [AND CAMBRIA], so we decided this would make sense and it would be the 10th anniversary of 'Crack The Skye', so we decided to take the summer tour. So, instead of writing a new album, instead of diving head-first into new new material right now, we've kind of just been enjoying a little home time and then rehearsing a lot of old material for this set that we're doing this summer. So, we don't really talk about it or mark the calendar, but just knowing how our band's operated for the past 19 years, once we recover and enjoy some home time after the summer tour, we'll probably, all four of us, I imagine, will be very excited to dive head-first into new material. And we never put timelines on us. We never put those restrictions on ourselves. We just want everyone to be excited about it. So it needs to come naturally. But I would imagine that we'll work [on a new album] in the fall of this year."

MASTODON and COHEED AND CAMBRIA's "The Unheavenly Skye Tour" will see the bands performing across a range of venues from large theaters to outdoor amphitheaters. MASTODON will perform its renowned "Crack The Skye" album in its entirety.

Produced by Live Nation, the rock outing will kick off May 28 in Louisville, Kentucky at the Iroquois Amphitheater and will make stops in Boston, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, and more before wrapping July 3 in Irving, Texas at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory.

"Emperor Of Sand" was also nominated for "Best Rock Album" at the 60th annual Grammy Awards in January 2018 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. It was the fourth and fifth time MASTODON had received Grammy nominations, having missed out on the three previous occasions — "Colony Of Birchmen" (2007), "Curl Of The Burl" (2012) and "High Road" (2015) — it had been up for the "Best Metal Performance" award.