Wow! It definitely shows how heavily Motörhead influenced early Metallica. It just sounds like a Motörhead original now.
Metallica has certainly done a bunch of covers, and usually does them very well, but they had one transcendent moment about a decade ago, shortly after Ronnie James Dio died. There was a tribute album made in which a bunch of great bands performed covers of Dio from his solo career and his years in Sabbath. Metallica decided to focus on his career fronting Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow, and did a nine-minute medley that included “A Light in the Black,” “Tarot Woman,” “Stargazer,” and “Kill the King.” When it comes down to it, it’s really more of a Blackmore tribute than a Dio one, but the Metallica boys bring their A game. The whole 9 minutes is definitely worth hearing (you can find it on YouTube as “Ronnie Rising”), but I won’t put you through such a long listen right now…
…just the shreddingest four and a half minutes Metallica ever recorded! Some stalwart hero edited the track down to mostly-just-the-Kill-the-King-section, and for this you will want to hop in the car, plug yer phone into the Bluetooth, get yourself on about six miles of freeway with nobody in front of you (and no cops behind you), and turn it up loud, because yer sox are about to be rocked off. If you like Metallica, they have never been better than this.
A cover I think is absolutely wonderful because it’s still great, while musically completely different to the original is The Scissor Sisters’ version of Pink Floyd’s Comfortably Numb:
A few years back, I started getting into Rockabilly / Pscychobilly / Horrorbilly thanks in part to Kieron Gillen putting me onto Zombina and the Skeletones and the great soundtrack of the otherwise middling game WET. During my exploration of those, I discovered The Hillbilly Moon Explosion’s fantastic cover of Blondie’s Call Me:
And they’ve also done a great cover of The Kingston Trio’s Jackson:
Which vocally reminds me of the street performers in Dishonored 2!
Another example of a scorching cover of 1970s metal is Halestorm’s cover of Judas Priest’s “Dissident Aggressor.” YouTube has several live performances, and there’s also a studio version, but despite this one’s slightly crappy recording quality, I think this is Lzzy Hale’s best performance that I can find. She absolutely rips the shit out of this one.
I recommend Rodrigo Y Gabriela. A very talented Spanish guitar duo, made famous by their Metallica covers but honestly they are great on their own merits. Here’s one of their covers i like
Love me some Rogrigo y Gabriela, and I adored the stuff they released during lockdown, real bright spots.
They did an utterly, UTTERLY wonderful rendition of Floyd’s Echoes:
For two people just sat there with no audience, it’s a WILD ride and an emotional rollercoaster.
And I mean, I know they’re really both excellent musicians who work perfectly together, but Gabriela’s playing never ceases to leave me less than utterly flabberghasted.
Regarding moar Metallica covers, although it’s reeeeally more of a mash-up, The Native Howl’s “Harvester of Constant Sorrow” is just spectacular:
I was bummed when i found out that they were going to be in the Houston area sometime towards the end of 2022 (i think?). I had plans to be in town so i could’ve gone but i found out the same day and it was a big ask to drop everything to go to a concert way across town last minute.
I’d never heard that track before; what a bitter-sweet tour of the valleys
@FDG135 re Walk Like an Egyptian; German is such a great language for Post-Punk. That cover of Wave is like a refreshing shower in minty mouth-wash; invigorating.
@Beanolini “Not quite as cheerful as most of the ones above, perhaps? Laibach: Strange Fruit.” I am surprised, nay shocked, that Laibach covering Strange Fruit is not cheery. That’s freakin’ scary; as it should be.
@Mungrul seeing Girl School and Motorhead on Tiswas was great. My boyfriend’s back and he’s got the Black & Decker!
Thank you for introducing me to Alice Donut; those as some rich, fat, fresh morsels.
@Nonentity Thanks for that medley of awesome ass-kicking.
