With Mastodon's new album Once More 'Round the Sun just released, guitarist Bill Kelliher has been telling RTÉ TEN about how the band's love of Phil Lynott and Thin Lizzy found its way onto the title track.

Once More 'Round the Sun contains elements of the Thin Lizzy classic Cowboy Song, with Kelliher telling TEN that the track referenced the legendary band from the very start.

"That song, before it was called Once More 'Round the Sun, we had named it Lizzy - it sounded very Thin Lizzyesque," he said.

"Before all the Thin Lizzy references came into the song, we had different lyrics - the pre-production lyrics. When I was naming the songs in the computer when I was recording the pre-production stuff I called it Lizzy. It just evolved into a tip of the hat to Lynott and Thin Lizzy."

With Mastodon having already covered Thin Lizzy's Emerald live and on record, Kelliher was asked whether Thin Lizzy's ability to be hard, soft, happy or angry was part of the attraction for Mastodon.

He replied: "It's good for any band to be able to step outside the box and to just play however they're feeling at the moment and not be stuck as an artist in this band that can 'only play heavy metal'."

He added: "It [staying in the one style or mood] doesn't make sense because people change, people grow, people mature and people wear different clothes every day!

"You have different thoughts every day and you do different things. It's healthy to be able to experiment with your art and be able to paint a different picture for each album. Thin Lizzy was on the same kind of tip."