When Rolling Stone went behind the scenes of Mastodon's forthcoming fifth album last month, the prog metal band still had not decided on a title for the record. The group announced today that the disc will be called The Hunter, and will hit stores later this year. A finalized track listing has not been made available, but it has been confirmed that the album will include the songs "Blasteroids," "All the Heavy Lifting," "Curl of the Burl," "Dry Bone Valley," "Stargasm" and "The Octopus Has No Friends."

According to band leader Brent Hinds, The Hunter will be a creative departure for the band, who are already known for their experimental approach to heavy music. "It sounds pretty different than anything we've ever done," Hinds told Rolling Stone. "It's un-comparable!"

In the run up to the release of The Hunter, the band will head out on tour of Europe, and will also play on a one-off gig in Seattle with Soundgarden, Queens of the Stone Age and the Meat Puppets on July 30th. Fans hoping for a taste of the new tunes at these gigs shouldn't get their hopes up. "On the European tour, there won't be any new material played – not that we know of yet," Hinds says. "But we haven't even had a chance to practice to go on that tour, we've been so busy in the studio. It's possible we might whip out a new song for the Soundgarden show – I would hope we could do that."

Related: Heavy Metal Stalwarts Mastodon Prep New Album
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