Covering a track by another band has occurred for as long as music has existed. Many blues legends have injected their own textbook style onto the work of previous generations to magnificent effect. Metal covers have been something that has emerged in the modern era.
Metal covers can exist for a number of reasons. A new band can cover a popular track on a debut album to give some familiarity to new listeners. Seasoned veterans can showcase their love for a favoured band. Or simply, why not just cover a song and make it sound awesome.
Therin lies the key to a great cover song. Simply taking a track and reproducing it beat for beat adds nothing, and renders it completely pointless. That is where metal covers have an advantage. Covering a popular pop/dance/rock track and giving it a sharp dose of distortion and aggression gives an immediate edge. The very best can it take that one step further and inject a whole new personality onto the track. Here are 10 of the very best.
Killswitch Engage – Holy Diver
Let’s kick it off with the king. Metal covers there are aplenty, but Holy Diver takes top spot. Not only being one of the seminal tracks by the greatest vocalist in heavy metal history – Ronnie James Dio, but covered by one of the great voices in modern metal – Howard Jones. Add in drop C metalcore chugging and you end up with a modern classic.
Turisas – Rasputin
The song about a famously hard to murder mystic man feels right at home in the hands of seasoned Battle Metal proponents Turisas. The Boney M original has groove and sass by the bucketload. Add some chugging metal triplets and an offbeat rhythm and Rasputin is transformed into a dance metal classic.
Disturbed – Land of Confusion
It would be way too obvious here to pick The Sound of Silence as the Disturbed cover to highlight. Glorious as that track is, it is the Genesis hit Land of Confusion that is the standout. Sitting near the end of Ten Thousand Fists, when Disturbed first moved away from their nu-metal beginnings, Land of Confusion gets a well deserved sharp dose of metal energy.
Metallica – Whiskey in the Jar
Once you start listing them, there are some devestatingly awesome metal covers. Whether you were on board with Metallica‘s 90’s style shift, Whiskey in the Jar(o) got a massive injection of swagger, panache and that classic 90’s James Hetfield scowl. Based off an Irish folk song, Thin Lizzy gave it the rock treatment first, then Metallica ramped it up to 11.
Korn – Word Up!
Cameo‘s funk hit Word Up! is almost too perfect to fit with the style of groovy nu-metall’ers Korn. Add in a music video of the band members faces on dogs and you have the level of weird to match the song (and Korn‘s) style. They got a weird thing to show you, in only the way Korn can.
Sirenia – Voyage Voyage
Norwegian symphonic metal band Sirenia employ all the necessary tropes of chuggy downtuned guitar riffs, soaring vocals coupled with death growls, and a heavy dose of synth. It is on their cover of Desireless‘ synth-pop hit Voyage Voyage that they embrace their gothic romance to the full and nail the cover.
Volbeat – I Only Wanna Be With You
You have to go right back to the debut album of Danish rockabilly metal band Volbeat – The Strength/The Sound/The Songs to reach Volbeat‘s best cover song. The 60’s hit for British singer Dusty Springfield covered here with the typical Volbeat energy and groove.
Floor Jansen – Let It Go
Has anyone escaped the clutches of involuntarily singing the Frozen megabit Let It Go? I dare say not. Well leave it up to Nightwish superstar vocalist Floor Jansen to put some metal street cred on to the Disney classic. Proof that anything can be made better with some guitar riffs.
Children of Bodom – Oops!… I Did It Again
Children of Bodom had a penchant for metal covers. So much so they managed to fill an entire album with such. Many of which were totally ill fitting for a melodic death metal band. That was the beauty, and none fit that bill quite like the Britney Spears hit Oops!… I Did It Again – with chugging guitars and screams. Glorious.
The HU – Sad But True
The HU have gathered a fierce reputation throughout the heavy metal fandom. Utilising traditional Mongolian instrumentation and throat singing to take metal in a direction never previously seen. The Mongolian language also perfectly fits heavy metal, and why not put it to good use on a Metallica Black Album classic Sad But True.
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