- Aug 14, 2008
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What metal covers would you say are just as good as the original song being covered - covers so good that the band almost makes you forget it is covering a song in the first place? Here are some of my picks! What are yours?
If we weren't beaten over the heads with the classic Sabbath song (for good reason of course - it's a masterpiece of a tune), we would have thought to ourselves "wtf, so FNM does it all... hardcore, metal, pop, hip hop, and 70's rock too?!?! When did FNM decide to go all Zeppelin on us?!" It's such a seamless and perfect extension of the band's sound that it almost serves itself as just another cut off "The Real Thing" and not just a cover. And don't get me started on Patton. He completely re-branded the song in my eyes.
Years ago, when this record came out on leading independent metal label CENTURY MEDIA RECORDS I read a review that was just like (and of course I am paraphrasing) "yeah the album is solid, really good thrashy Swedish style death metal, but... dat Blackened cover!!!!!!" Nowadays, making a non-death metal song death metal is cliche and boring, but in 2003/4 it was cool as shit. Blastbeats in a Metallica song you say? WAT?! ...And Justice For All is my favorite Metallica record so for me, a band really needs to do one of those tracks justice in order to cover it and The Forsaken totally did. It doesn't even sound like Metallica. It sounds like it could have come from the next great Swedish Gothenburg style band. And actually that really says how innovative ...AJFA was as a record, all of these Swedish bands lifted so many musical motifs off of it that it's not even funny. From the thin, yet surprisingly sharp and crisp bass-less production highlighting the razor-sharp riffs, to the epic guitar harmonies, to the epic twisting arrangements. Hell even Opeth said they owed their sound to the little acoustic flourishes on "To Live Is To Die." If any band is gonna do that record justice, it's gonna be a Swedish band. And The Forsaken totally make that tune their own.
Confession time! I had no clue who this band nor who Pagan's Mind was until this record dropped. At the time, the Drover bros just joined Megadeth and released this album, so it got more press than the band had ever gotten. Like with the Forsaken album, I remember the reviews basically being like "well the album's good and all... BUT DAT MERCYFUL FATE COVER...." My jaw dropped as soon as the singer kicked in. To be fair, this band doesn't really make the song its own. The cover does its best to be faithful to the original...However, for some reason everytime I spin this I can't help but be amazed at how good this cover is. It feels like the dudes in the band worked their asses off to put a whole lot of love into covering one of my favorite metal songs ever written. Hell they even got Mike and Hank from MF to solo on it! As a testimony to how good a job Nils does at showing how much he loves King, the lulzworthy youtube comments in that very video from people who think it was King himself singing on it make me chuckle!
Nothing really to say here. Chuck's voice sounds like a fucking freight train. I didn't think it was possible to take one of the heaviest songs ever written and make it heavier, but mission accomplished sir. I can't even imagine what Chuck would've done to "Blood and Thunder" by Mastodon (which I pretty much hold as the heaviest song ever written) if he was alive today.
If we weren't beaten over the heads with the classic Sabbath song (for good reason of course - it's a masterpiece of a tune), we would have thought to ourselves "wtf, so FNM does it all... hardcore, metal, pop, hip hop, and 70's rock too?!?! When did FNM decide to go all Zeppelin on us?!" It's such a seamless and perfect extension of the band's sound that it almost serves itself as just another cut off "The Real Thing" and not just a cover. And don't get me started on Patton. He completely re-branded the song in my eyes.
Years ago, when this record came out on leading independent metal label CENTURY MEDIA RECORDS I read a review that was just like (and of course I am paraphrasing) "yeah the album is solid, really good thrashy Swedish style death metal, but... dat Blackened cover!!!!!!" Nowadays, making a non-death metal song death metal is cliche and boring, but in 2003/4 it was cool as shit. Blastbeats in a Metallica song you say? WAT?! ...And Justice For All is my favorite Metallica record so for me, a band really needs to do one of those tracks justice in order to cover it and The Forsaken totally did. It doesn't even sound like Metallica. It sounds like it could have come from the next great Swedish Gothenburg style band. And actually that really says how innovative ...AJFA was as a record, all of these Swedish bands lifted so many musical motifs off of it that it's not even funny. From the thin, yet surprisingly sharp and crisp bass-less production highlighting the razor-sharp riffs, to the epic guitar harmonies, to the epic twisting arrangements. Hell even Opeth said they owed their sound to the little acoustic flourishes on "To Live Is To Die." If any band is gonna do that record justice, it's gonna be a Swedish band. And The Forsaken totally make that tune their own.
Confession time! I had no clue who this band nor who Pagan's Mind was until this record dropped. At the time, the Drover bros just joined Megadeth and released this album, so it got more press than the band had ever gotten. Like with the Forsaken album, I remember the reviews basically being like "well the album's good and all... BUT DAT MERCYFUL FATE COVER...." My jaw dropped as soon as the singer kicked in. To be fair, this band doesn't really make the song its own. The cover does its best to be faithful to the original...However, for some reason everytime I spin this I can't help but be amazed at how good this cover is. It feels like the dudes in the band worked their asses off to put a whole lot of love into covering one of my favorite metal songs ever written. Hell they even got Mike and Hank from MF to solo on it! As a testimony to how good a job Nils does at showing how much he loves King, the lulzworthy youtube comments in that very video from people who think it was King himself singing on it make me chuckle!
Nothing really to say here. Chuck's voice sounds like a fucking freight train. I didn't think it was possible to take one of the heaviest songs ever written and make it heavier, but mission accomplished sir. I can't even imagine what Chuck would've done to "Blood and Thunder" by Mastodon (which I pretty much hold as the heaviest song ever written) if he was alive today.
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