Punk Goes Metal

Various Artists

Fearless Records, 2000

REVIEW BY: Paul Hanson

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 01/25/2001

It's not hard to find a punk band that has been influenced by metal. And metal is influenced by punk (case in point, Slayer's punk cover CD). So... why not get some punk bands to play some metal cover songs? Brilliant idea. And why not let the punk bands pick the cover songs? Excellent. And why not feature a lot of known songs that have been overplayed on the radio so the punk band's version will sound fresh?

That last idea didn't go over well. While Divit kicks off the madness with "Breakin' The Law" and Jughead's Revenge follows with "Talk Dirty To Me," (and both, at one point in time, were both on the radio a lot), AFI covers "My Michelle" from the Guns 'N Roses my_heart_sings_the_harmony_web_ad_alt_250 Appetite For Destruction CD, a song that never made it as a single.

Following that is Bigwig's version of Slayer's "War Ensemble." I've never heard Slayer on the radio. "War Ensemble" is tweaked in an amusing way. After the drum fill in the middle of the song, if you listen carefully, you can hear someone shouting at the drummer to stop. He keeps going for a few seconds more and then, a slick transition to a jazz vibe follows. Slayer and jazz ?? Leave it to a punk band to come up with that!

Following Bigwig is A New Found Glory's cover of Warrant's "Heaven" which is sped up and much better than the sappy original ballad. The Ataris do that with the Skid Row ballad "I Remember You:" speeding it up and letting it rip.

Link 80 check in with Metallica's "Harvester Of Sorrow." Covering a Metallica song is like covering Led Zeppelin's "Stairway To Heaven." You just don't do it unless you can contribute to the song. Luckily for Link 80, they do. Horns. That's all I can say. They put horns in "Harvester Of Sorrow."

Swindle covers Skid Row's "Youth Gone Wild" with integrity and Diesel Boy nails Motley Crue's "Looks That Kill." Those two good tracks set up the excellent Rx Bandits cover of Megadeth's "Holy Wars." Following the lead of Link 80, the Bandits put horns in "Holy Wars." It's refreshing to hear a band that adds so much of themselves to the song they are covering.

The CD ends with Tesla's "Love Song" covered by Ten Foot Pole and those zany Aquabats covering "Why Rock." I've searched everywhere in my mind, but I do not know who originally sang "Why Rock." Flame me at .

Overall, this is a great release. This CD has lived in my player since it arrived in my mailbox. I love it.

Rating: A

User Rating: Not Yet Rated


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© 2001 Paul Hanson and The Daily Vault. All rights reserved. Review or any portion may not be reproduced without written permission. Cover art is the intellectual property of Fearless Records, and is used for informational purposes only.