A Grammy? Brann Dailor is skeptical.

"I guess I just question who they hand those things out to," the Mastodon drummer says. The Atlanta metal quartet's "Colony Of Birchmen," from its latest album Blood Mountain, has been nominated for a Grammy this year in the Best Metal Performance category. And Dailor's a little conflicted.

"I think it's pretty cool that a band like us would be recognized by them," he says. "It's flattering, I guess. But it's a bit of a popularity contest motivated by who sells the most records and not based on true talent totally. But then every once in a while they'll throw a curve ball and actually honor somebody that's important. So I guess I have mixed feelings. But I'm excited to be going, I can tell you that much."

Fresh off a summer tour with Tool, Mastodon is roughly two weeks into a headlining tour that will bring the band to Rochester Wednesday, February 14.

The band --- composed of former Rochesterians Dailor and guitarist Bill Kelliher, plus guitarist/vocalist Brent Hinds, and bassist Troy Sanders --- has taken a savage hold on metal since forming in 2000. There's no shortage of metal, or bands that have remained faithful. However, the majority of these artists --- through their reverence and adherence --- don't break new ground. They've hit the ceiling. Mastodon may be just what the genre needs. Fans are looking for a savior; someone to break the mold yet stay true to the form. This heavy quartet's distinctive howl is an answer to a lot of prayers.

Mastodon mixes the requisite metal volume and head-bang with a slow stoner grind, progressive dynamics, hardcore speed and abandon, and classic rock. The vocals are kept at a persistent yet audible roar and the twin guitars slash and rumble between stratospheric and frequently harmonized soloing. The drums pound apocalyptically. The sound is utterly majestic, with hints of fantasy and darkness.

On stage the band cops the jeans and t-shirt look and demeanor of its fans; there's no preening, there are no props.

As it stands now Mastodon is rejuvenating metal, resuscitating metal, resurrecting metal, and kicking it in the ass

This was not the mission. Nor is it clear to band members if they're collectively saviors at all.

"We're just four dudes who all share the same ideas and goals for writing and playing music that we like for ourselves," says Kelliher. It's not like, ‘Hey, we need to save metal today.'" Still, Kelliher is aware of fan perception and gratitude.

"You've restored my faith in metal," one fan wrote on the band's MySpace page.

"Wow," says Kelliher. "That's a pretty nice statement."

So if Mastodon isn't saving metal outright, it's at least filling a gap. Again Dailor waxes skeptical: "I feel it would be cocky for me to say I think we're filling a void here," he says. "I guess I just don't see it that way. I think maybe we're digging a little bit deeper when it comes to influences. It's hard to put a finger on it, especially from the inside looking out."

"I think we aredoing something different," Kelliher says. "We're a little more classic rock in our songwriting. Bands like Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath, Slayer really rubbed off on us."

Metal has been in Kelliher and Dailor's blood for years. The two hooked up in Rochester in 1993 while playing in metal outfit Lethargy. The band was heavy in the extreme. Kelliher aimed high.

"All I wanted to do was tour and be in a band that was touring, out there playing every night," he says. To that end Kelliher entrenched himself, playing in two other bands, Butterslax and Lunch Lady. However, he quit them all to "try something new" in Atlanta in 1997.

But over the year he spent there he couldn't find anyone that clicked with what he wanted to do. He decided to move back to Rochester and re-up with Lethargy.

Then Dailor got the call to audition for prog-metal band Today Is The Day. Kelliher wanted in.

"I was like, ‘Dude, bring me with you,'" he says. "'I'll play guitar, bass, or whatever.'"

Dailor and Kelliher both got the gig with the already established band and moved to Boston

"We had a record in about a month that came out on Relapse," says Kelliher. "I was like, ‘Cool, this is where I wanna be.'"

Right at the end of Kelliher's first stint in Atlanta, he had caught Four Hour Fogger (opening up, incidentally, for Today Is The Day), which featured the other two future members of Mastodon, Hinds and Sanders.

"I was watching Brent play and I was like, ‘Holy shit, where's this guy been?'" he says.

So when Kelliher and Dailor quit Today Is The Day after a European tour in 2000, the choice was clear.

The pair moved back to Atlanta where Four Hour Fogger was falling apart. They all met up at a High On Fire Show and set up a rehearsal.

"In two weeks we had like nine songs down," Kelliher says. Mastodon played its first show shortly thereafter at the Dixie Tavern in New Orleans and started touring immediately. It didn't stop.

The band remained on the road, stopping barely long enough to record their first album. Lifesblood came out on Relapse in 2001. The band shared the stage with other like-minded, up-and-coming metal acts like Dillinger Escape Plan, Eyehategod, and Alabama Thunderpussy.

Mastodon presented its second Relapse release, Remission, just one year later. The quartet started booking even bigger tours, going to Europe and Japan, sharing the stage with bands like Isis, Iron Maiden, Slipknot, and Slayer.

By the time Leviathan was released in 2004 Mastodon was a headline attraction.

Sealing its fate in the metal pantheon, Mastodon played the main stage for Ozzfest 2005. Warner Bros. signed the act in 2004, and released the amazing Blood Mountain in September 2006.

Each Mastodon album is a concept album centered around elements. Remission is fire, Leviathan is water, and Blood Mountainis earth.

"I think it's cooler if it's kinda one big package with a beginning, a middle, and an end," Kelliher says. "I find it easier to concentrate if we have a good foundation of something that's tangible instead of just writing a record where every song's about something different."

"Imagine this Blood Mountain as something you're trying to overcome," he says. "You're trying to climb it and get to the top. What could happen on your journey? You get lost in the woods on your way up. A wolf's chasing you. There's a labyrinth and you're searching for a crystal skull to insert at the top of the mountain and ascend into outer space."

The next album's element?

"I guess it's gonna be air or space," Kelliher says. "Now we're stuck in that we have to write the next record about that because everyone's expecting it. It's like ‘Shit, what are we gonna do now? How are we gonna write the next record and keep it relevant to the whole pattern, and what's it gonna be about?'"

But Mastodon has to live in the now, and grapple with the surreal nature of a Grammy nomination.

"I dunno," says Kelliher. "I just never in a million years thought... I still kinda think of us as a garage band, a basement band. I just didn't think there'd be that many people to even know who we are to nominate us."

Dailor takes his own denial and disbelief in stride. He's already picked what he's wearing on the red carpet.

"I'm wearing a diaper by Hugo Boss and some moon boots by Prada," he says. "And I'm gonna light my hair on fire and ride a unicycle."

With or without a Grammy win (the Grammys air Sunday, February 11, on CBS), the band's dance card is plenty full touring behind its current record, despite fans' impression of what being "signed" means.

"I think people get the misconception ‘Oh, you're on a major, you don't have to do anything anymore. You're all set.' It's kinda just the opposite," Kelliher says. "Now we're really working. Now we're really climbing the Blood Mountain."

Mastodon plays with Converge, Priestess, and Skull Wednesday, February 14, Water Street Music Hall, 204 North Water Street, 8 p.m., $14. For more info on the band, visit www.mastodonrocks.com.