''Medium Rarities'' is a compilation album by American

metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typi ...

band

Mastodon A mastodon ( 'breast' + 'tooth') is any proboscidean belonging to the extinct genus ''Mammut'' (family Mammutidae). Mastodons inhabited North and Central America during the late Miocene or late Pliocene up to their extinction at the end of th ...

. It was released digitally and on limited edition vinyl on September 11, 2020 via

Reprise Records Reprise Records is an American record label founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operates through Warner Records, one of its flagship labels. Artists currently signed to Reprise Records include Enya, Michael ...

. The album is a collection of rare tracks that include covers, instrumental versions of previous songs, and live recordings. Its opening track, a new song titled "Fallen Torches", was released on July 31, 2020. The song features Scott Kelly from

Neurosis Neurosis is a class of functional mental disorders involving chronic distress, but neither delusions nor hallucinations. The term is no longer used by the professional psychiatric community in the United States, having been eliminated from t ...

for his final guest appearance with Mastodon before his withdrawal from the public eye that was not announced until August 2022.

Critical reception

In a positive review, ''

Kerrang! ''Kerrang!'' is a British weekly magazine devoted to rock, punk and heavy metal music, currently published by Wasted Talent (the same company that owns electronic music publication '' Mixmag''). It was first published on 6 June 1981 as a one- ...

'' stated the album "certainly underlines the band’s extraordinary ability to shape-shift" and highlighted the song "Fallen Torches" as a "heroic attempt to salvage 2020 via monolithic

riff A riff is a repeated chord progression or refrain in music (also known as an ostinato figure in classical music); it is a pattern, or melody, often played by the rhythm section instruments or solo instrument, that forms the basis or accompanim ...

s and an outro thunderous enough to crack planets."

Track listing

Personnel

Brann Dailor Brann Timothy Dailor (born March 19, 1975) is an American musician, best known as a member of heavy metal band Mastodon, in which he is the drummer and one of three vocalists. Career Dailor first started playing in a band called Eviscerat ...

− drums, percussion, vocals *

Brent Hinds William Brent Hinds (born January 16, 1974) is an American musician best known as a member of the Atlanta, Georgia metal band Mastodon, in which he shares guitar duties with Bill Kelliher and vocal duties with Troy Sanders and Brann Dailor. Hi ...

− guitars, vocals *

Bill Kelliher William Breen Kelliher (born March 23, 1971) is an American musician, best known as the rhythm guitarist of heavy metal band Mastodon, and being the only band member who doesn't share the lead vocal duty. Early life Kelliher is an Irish citiz ...

− guitars *

Troy Sanders Troy Jayson Sanders (born September 8, 1973) is an American musician, best known as a member of heavy metal band Mastodon, in which he plays bass and sings alongside guitarist Brent Hinds and drummer Brann Dailor. He is also active in Kill ...

− bass, vocals * Scott Kelly − additional vocals on "Fallen Torches"

Charts

References

{{Mastodon Mastodon (band) albums 2020 compilation albums