I can't remember how I came to first hear this album. It was likely while searching for cover-versions of either Metallica or Faith No More. I know I downloaded it first, then later bought it on CD in 2008.
What impressed me the most about this covers album is not only the artists they've chosen to cover, which reads almost like a list of everything I liked in the 90s, but the songs by those bands they've attempted.
Geek USA by the Smashing Pumpkins, Territory by Sepultura, Malpractice by Faith No More, Us And Them by Pink Floyd, The Day I Tried To Live by Soundgarden, Blackened by Metallica, Cemetery Gates by Pantera, Three Of A Perfect Pair by King Crimson, Bicycle Race by Queen. As obvious as many of these bands may be, the choice of songs is not. It's very brave to tackle Cemetary Gates or Bicycle Race by Queen, when there are so many far easier songs to play or sing.
The vocalist from Between The Buried And Me as a very strong voice, capable of the high and low notes required on many of these tracks. The players are all technically brilliant. They "metal up" a lot of the songs a tad unnecessarily, although what is the point of a perfectly straight cover?
I don't think though, that any of the covers add anything to the originals. They're fun to listen to, but I'd rather hear the originals. That's true of most cover albums, and the curse of the cover band. You have to either change the song completely, making it your own, or play it so well, that the cover seems pointless.
I discovered a few bands in the listening of this (King Crimson being the main one), so it was a worthy trip, but I'd probably never listen to this again.
4/10
