Welcome to the Naked Mole Rat Challenge, an outreach program.
To crystallize the character of Mastodon’s sixth studio album, Once More ‘Round the Sun, I went to the naked mole rat habitat at Pacific Science Center. The parallels were obvious:
• Mastodon’s dark, churning rhythms and leads are heavy enough to burrow through earth, the way mole rats do.
• In Mastodon’s Grammy-nominated song “High Road,” they sing, “You are the plague that was brought here by rats” and “You take the high road down, I take the ground below.” Mole rats spend virtually their entire lives in darkness, weaving through subterranean warrens and tunnels…
