Twenty years into their career, Mastodon are harder to describe than ever before. The Georgia group started off playing energetic sludge metal, took a sharp turn into beautifully complex prog, and then spent the 2010's dabbling with hard rock and offering quotes to journalists that disavowed their categorization as a "metal" band. Whatever you want to call them, Mastodon are Mastodon more than anything else, and their new rarities compilation Medium Rarities is a celebration of their elastic identity.
The project is a grab bag of covers, instrumentals, live renditions, TV soundtrack contributions, and one brand new track that spans their entire discography and showcases their musical interests both within and outside the metal playbook. If you were to make a venn diagram of the bands Mastodon covers here (Feist, The Flaming Lips, Butthole Surfers, and Metallica) their sound exists in the center, and they excel at taking on the character of each of those acts while still remaining firmly themselves. Their Game of Thrones score "White Walker" and Aqua Teen Hunger Force cameo "Cut You Up With A Linoleum Knife" are respectively stoic and off-the-wall ridiculous, a dichotomy the band have always balanced in their best moments.
The myriad instrumental versions of tracks from their 2010s catalog take on a new life without the vocal performances, which some fans found grating compared to their earlier, gnarlier singing deliveries. However, there's plenty of headbanging fodder to be found in the live tracks: the blisteringly technical "Capillarian Crest," the ugly "Circle of Cysquatch," and the raucous "The Crystal Skull" from 2006's Blood Mountain, as well as whipping fan favorites "Blood and Thunder" and "Iron Tusk" from 2004's Leviathan. The new song "Fallen Torches" features guest vocals from Scott Kelly of Neurosis, which serves as a complementary pairing between alt-metal veterans. No matter what era of Mastodon you're most partial to, there's bound to be something on Medium Rarities that connects. © Eli Enis/Qobuz