Mastodon released “Fallen Torches” alongside Scott Kelly of Neurosis at the end of last month, which is set to be featured on their upcoming compilation project Medium Rarities. The band’s drummer/vocalist Brann Dailor and guitarist Bill Kelliher recently sat down with Rocksound.tv, where they provided some background on the song, which they said was originally intended for a joint EP that never came into fruition.

“We had written that over a year ago, when we’d been in between doing European tours with Scott Kelly,” Kelliher explained. “We’d been thinking about writing a full EP or something with him, a bunch of songs. When we’d done the first European tour with him, there was a lot of sitting around backstage and playing on acoustics, throwing ideas around.”

Kelliher went on to explain that Kelly joined up with the group during rehearsals around 2018, which eventually led to the recording of “Fallen Torches.” The planned EP never happened however with Kelliher stating “We just dropped the ball I guess, I don’t know.” He went on to claim that he was thinking about just leaking the track onto the internet, before deciding to place it on Medium Rarities.

According to the band’s Brann Dailor, the passing of their former manager Nick John is set to be a central theme for this upcoming project. John passed away from pancreatic cancer in 2018. In the mean time, Kelliher has been one of the most vocal members of the group regarding the project, telling outlets he had about 20 rough songs recorded back in May and even stating that the material on the new project may turn away fans in July. The group is close with Kelly, and have collaborated on stage with him in the past.

Photo Credit: Raymond Flotat