The Metallica Blacklist pt 7

 

The new tribute to the Black Album called the Metallica Blacklist, is a collection of artists each covering a song from the band's biggest selling work. To review this as a whole would be a daunting task since there are 5 to 6 artists covering each.   So I broke this down by song,  So you are getting an installment of this review for each song.  Though when we get to some of the deeper cuts there are only a couple versions and in this installment we are covering those.  This is  the final break down of the songs, the last part 8 I will compile the best of each songs to present what would have been a better tribute album, but for now here we are with  "Of Wolf and Man". The one shot it gets is taken by a folk country project called Goodnight Texas,  I would have preferred a darker rock take on this Katatonia would have been a good choice.  Instead we are getting their truck stop hippie version, which is nice, but it is a song about where wolves and does not need nice, Murder By Death would have been better. 

Idles who are not normally a bad band, though a punk band which means they can be sloppy try some kind of version of "the God That Failed" and it sucks pretty bad.  Irish singer Imelda May, does a much better with her bluesy poppy groove , it comes closer to being at least a rock song. 

"My Friend of Misery" is first take on by Cherry Glazerr, who is a band I normally appreciate , but their cover is a a little disjointed , the chorus is about all that is there the verses are a wreck. Slothrust would at least have been able to rock it out when needed. French singer Izia's more pop take on it is closer in terms of having a more driving beat and a melody that captures the song. The jazz version by Kamasi Washington, makes less since than what Cherry Glazerr did . 

It is a  shame the "Struggle Within" did not get a heavier version though  Rodrigo y Gabriela are god at their style of Spanish guitar.  They have a grasp of metal without playing it, but there are many bands that could have done better. 

The Metallica Blacklist pt 3- "Holier Than Thou"

The new tribute to the Black Album called the Metallica Blacklist, is a collection of artists each covering a song from the band's biggest selling work. To review this as a whole would be a daunting task since there are 5 to 6 artists covering each.   So I broke this down by song,  So you are getting an installment of this review for each song.  Though when we get to some of the deeper cuts there are only a couple versions so we will double up when we get to that point in the album. 

The bar starts off being raised pretty high by Biffy Clyro, who might not have taken the most obvious path with the song, but do what they do with it so well that it makes up for it and impresses me. The raw snotty punk of the Chats is too straight forward to really capture the mood of this song effectively and really like a great deal of earlier punk the emphasis is on attitude than musical ability so they can barely play. When it comes to punk it should not be a surprise that OFF!  does a better job, despite relying more on speed , though neither band comes close to what Biffy Clyro started off with. 

If you were going to ask out of the options given who was going to deliver the most metal version of this song it would be hard to bet against Corey Taylor. He stays pretty true to the song with out getting to Slipknot with it. As he has gotten older and thanks to his success with Stone Sour, he as grown away from the more overt nu metal trappings. Though his version might be the second best I prefer Biffy Clyro's take on the song.  

The Metallica Blacklist Review pt - 2 "Sad But True"

 

The new tribute to the Black Album called the Metallica Blacklist, is a collection of artists each covering a song from the band's biggest selling work. To review this as a whole would be a daunting task since there are 5 to 6 artists covering each.   So I broke this down by song,  So you are getting an installment of this review for each song. 

Sam Fender makes it clear he has heard plenty of Jeff Buckley but not really sure what Metallica is about. Sure he has a decent voice, even if the over all sound is less than original, he would have been better off with 'the Unforgiven" . I am more surprised by the fact Jason Isobell sounds more like legit country than . His version bears next to nothing to do with the original , but is better than what Fender does. This is also better than what the Mexican Institute of Sound does, which is just sample the original song and mix it against the sounds of their home country.   

Going into this Royal Blood would have been my pick for who was going to do the best just job of this one. The vocals kind of fall into the Weezer trap of not having enough balls and rely on the music to carry the weight of the song, though what they do going into the chorus works pretty well. I had the highest hopes for St. Vincent, as I know she likes metal, she instead gives it more of a Nine Inch Nails treatment with the slinky beat. She pretty much does what she always does and it just happens to be a Metallica, in fact I think I have heard her use a beefier guitar tone on her own songs. 

Kentucky's White Reaper would have been my second guess for who would do the best job as far as staying closer to what they original., In some ways they might have done this better than Royal Blood, I think they would be more suited for "Seek and Destroy" , but I will give what they did a thumbs up. YB Korean band also tries a similar approach, but try to hard while taking to many liberties and just do not have the balls White Reaper had . So I think White Reaper won this round.