Revolver are celebrating Mastodon’s 25th anniversary with a new collector’s issue dedicated to the band. To help us salute the mighty Atlanta outfit, we reached out to a number of famous fans to get their picks for their favorite Mastodon song — including Judas Priest vocalist Rob Halford.
Rob Halford was one of many early converts to Mastodon’s heavy cause, so it’s no surprise that the band’s primordial Remission era has stuck with the iconic Judas Priest vocalist over the years.
When Revolver asked the Metal God to weigh in on his choice Mastodon statement, he shared that it’s the inspired direction of the 2002 debut LP’s doom-swung single “March of the Fire Ants” that really lit up his imagination and set him up as a lifelong fan.
“‘March of the Fire Ants’ dialed Mastodon in for me, and as it is with most bands, your earliest works capture your uncluttered art,” he tells Revolver. “Mastodon defined a new era that kept us fans glued to their ongoing singular feats of creativity.”
As a classic among classics, you really can’t go wrong with that logic. “March of the Fire Ants” indeed teed things off with Mastodon’s signature sludging ethos, but likewise projects almost-NWOBHM-styled guitar harmonies and a dash of prog into the mix. And the sound of “March of the Fire Ants” welcomed Halford into a quickly growing colony of Mastodon fans.
Revolver’s Mastodon collector’s issue is available to order with three limited-edition covers, and can be bundled with vinyl variants of five Mastodon albums now featuring reimagined artwork by Paul Romano. More info on the variant options and more exclusive Mastodon merch are up in our shop.