Today sees the release of Medium Rarities, the new compilation album by Atlanta stoner metal kings Mastodon. The record is mostly made up of live recordings and standalone cuts from soundtracks and compilations. But included among them is “Fallen Torches,” an original track that’s packed with everything you love about Mastodon. Now, the band have dropped a video to accompany the song, which you can watch below.
The “Fallen Torches” video, directed by Hey Beautiful Jerk and Machina-Infinitum, is interesting in that it seems to tell a story without following a narrative. The imagery available in the footage is a mixture of circuitboard structures, surging liquid metal, and, occasionally, a face as though from a Greek statue that forms amidst the many whirling biomechanical elements that make up most of the footage. Eventually, the whole thing is swallowed by fire in a cataclysm that leaves the viewer wondering what exactly they just saw. Imagine an iTunes visualizer with the production budget of a Disney movie, and you’ll have an idea of what you’re about to see.
In a previous statement when “Fallen Torches” was first released, the band said, “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 their late, long-time manager Nick John, with proceeds going to the Hirshberg Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research in his honor. ‘Fallen Torches’ is written by Mastodon and features guest vocals by long-time friend and collaborator Scott Kelly from the band Neurosis.”
Check out the video for “Fallen Torches” below:
Mastodon’s Medium Rarities is out now on Reprise Records. The album contains not only “Fallen Torches” but the band’s epic cover of Feist’s “A Commotion,” not to mention the thrash metal movie lobby track “Cut You Up With A Linoleum Knife” from the Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie.
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Words by Chris Krovatin
