Mastodon have unveiled a new song, Fallen Torches, which will appear on the band’s upcoming compilation, Medium Rarities.
The intense, trippy track, the sole new composition on the record, features a guest appearance from Neurosis’s Scott Kelly. You can check it out above.
The band said in a statement, “This classic Mastodon track was recorded in Atlanta in 2019, originally planned to be released in support of a European tour. The track was delayed so the band could focus on the release of Stairway to Nick John, a tribute to late, long time manager Nick John, with proceeds going to the Hirshberg Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research in his honor."
Medium Rarities collects Mastodon’s cover songs, soundtrack contributions, instrumentals, B-sides and live recordings. Tracks include Metallica’s Orion, Feist’s A Commotion and the Flaming Lips’ A Spoonful Weighs a Ton, as well as White Walker, from the Game of Thrones-inspired mix tape and instrumental versions of Asleep in the Deep, Toe to Toes, Jaguar God and Halloween.
The album is out September 11 and available for preorder.
In the meantime, Mastodon guitarist Bill Kelliher has remained busy by playing on socially distanced covers of Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill and Rush’s Anthem, while co-guitarist Brent Hinds delivered a scorching cover of Black Sabbath’s Electric Funeral with Marcus King.
“He got a kidney infection, so he’s in hospital… That’s a bit of a drag, because he was going to be the lead guitarist”: The iconic charity rock song that missed out on its star guitarist due to illness – and why it could have sounded very different
“There are better players, better lyricists, better songwriters – but there’s an energy to their combined powers that is hard to rival at the moment”: The best guitar albums of 2024
