VARIOUS ARTISTS – A TRIBUTE TO THE FOUR HORSEMEN
Nuclear Blast - 2003
By Rodrigo Escandon
Yet another tribute album from Nuclear Blast and this one is dedicated to
Metallica and thankfully the majority of the songs here come from the band’s 80’s era and not from their sorry subsequent albums. Filled with 13 songs this release actually contains some very good covers that fit my own personal criteria of what a cover should be.
“Fight Fire with Fire” by
Therion showcases the sound from their earlier albums (pre-
Theli). It is fast, raw and more stripped down than the original. A flute has replaced the classic guitar intro from the original version in this one.
Destruction do an excellent version of “Whiplash” as does
Anthrax with “Phantom Lord” and it was interesting to hear two thrash bands playing
Metallica songs. “Fade to Black” by
Sonata Arctica is definitely the best song on this release, it just totally sounds like a song that would fit right in with their last album and if you did not know that this was a cover you would swear it was written by the Fins. The ending is accentuated by soft chanting in the background and it does not get as distorted or heavy as the original. My Friend of Misery” by
Dark Tranquillity is another good one but I wish that they would have selected another song which is the same problem I had with “Eye of the Beholder” by
In Flames (which does not feature Anders at the vocals). I felt that these two songs are too slow for these two bands and I would rather have had them try something like “Creeping Death”, something that is faster.
Unfortunately there always has to be the questionable covers and two of my favorite
Metallica songs were absolutely butchered by
Crematory (who played “One” and cut the song short!!) and
Burden of Grief (who just totally made me hate “Master of Puppets”).
Thunderstone is featured in yet another tribute album and I wish that would stop because they just do not do a good job with “Welcome Home (Sanitarium)”, it just sounds too weak. Finally, if you want to hear something absolutely weird then listen to “The Memory Remains” by
The Kovenant. It is actually done very well (musically its like
SETI) and they even include the chants done by Marianne Faithful in
Metallica’s version.
Overall, this release rises over some of the other
Metallica tribute albums. There are plenty of quality bands in this release with some great highlights.
Nuclear Blast Website
