Mastodon Goes North of the Wall on ‘Game of Thrones’

Rock critics have been trying to pinpoint where exactly Mastodon’s brutal sound comes from for years to no avail, but viewers of Game of Thrones learned the secret last night. While we had previously believed that the metal band hailed from Atlanta it turns out that they come from somewhere much farther north, on the other side of The Wall.

Members of the popular band were extras in the chaotic battle scene that ended last night’s episode. (***Mild Spoilers Ahead***) It turns out that you really don’t need to use a whole lot of makeup to transform the guys from the band into Free Folk. Once they were all bundled up in their furs Brann Dailor, Bill Kelliher, and Brent Hinds looked like they had been running with the wildlings since the early days of Mance Rayder.

“It was such an incredible experience to be on set as extras for our collective favorite show Game Of Thrones and to be wildlings murdered and then brought back to life by White Walkers was beyond amazing,” Dailor said of the experience. “I watched my best friends Brent and Bill, murdered right in front of me as I myself was stabbed in the stomach and had my throat slit multiple times, and I didn’t mind at all. It made me love being in Mastodon even more. We are more than privileged and honored to have been a part of one of the greatest stories ever told on film, and the catering wasn’t bad either.”

One thing we did notice was that Brent Hinds’ distinctive tattoo on his forehead happened to be covered with ash. While we know that some body modification exists in Westeros—the Thenns are all shaved bald with scarification on their heads—we have yet to see anyone in George R.R. Martin’s world rocking some ink. Which is sort of ironic considering how many of the actors on the show have distinctive tattoos. Kristian Nairn (Hodor), Lena Headey (Cersei Lannister), Sibel Kikili (Shae), Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson (Gregor “The Mountain” Clegane) and Jason Momoa (Khal Drogo) all have prominent tattoos in real life. But when they are on the show all of their ink is covered up.

You would think that given the long winters that last years that boredom alone would have driven more Westorosi to dabble in tattooing, but apparently the fear of White Walkers is too all-consuming for people to take up new hobbies. Mastodon contributed a song about the army of the undead, “White Walker,” for the Catch The Throne Mixtape Vol. II.