28.7.2009 von Sascha Kersken.

The German acoustic band Rocketclover (formerly known by the German version of this name, Raketenklee) have just released their album of Metallica covers called “Some Kind of Clover”. The band had won the German “Your Tribute to Metallica” contest on YouTube with a beautiful laid-back acoustic version of “Motorbreath”. Subsequently, they teamed up with producer Henning Pauly to do a complete album.

The album contains twelve songs, two from each album from Kill ‘em All through Load (which lets me hope for a second part from Reload through Death Magnetic). They did not necessarily pick the most famous songs from each album (see below for the track list) but those that make sense with the band’s acoustic and diverse style. And diversity rules: you will get a reggae(!) style version of Blackened, a Latin dance mix of The Unforgiven with brass and stuff, a piano swing tune of King Nothing, as well as more beautiful acoustic versions like the contest winner track. Besides, the singer is excellent.

The only flaw in this beautiful album is that they make the common mistake of singing “you’ll be dying a thousand deaths” instead of “you’ll pay dying a thousand deaths” on Seek & Destroy ;).

Here’s the complete track list along with the original Metallica albums the tracks were taken from:

Kill ‘em All:

1. Motorbreath

2. Seek and Destroy

Ride The Lightning

 3. Trapped Under Ice

4. Escape

Master of Puppets:

5. Battery

6. Master of Puppets

…And Justice for All:

7. Blackened

8. Dyer’s Eve

Metallica (aka. The Black Album):

9. The Unforgiven

10. Nothing Else Matters

Load:

11. Ain’t My Bitch

12. King Nothing

You can get further information about the band and the album, as well as demos and an album download from Mindawn (in OGG or FLAC formats) at http://www.rocketclover.com.

Geschrieben in Covers, Bands, English, Thrash, Metallica | Keine Kommentare »

23.7.2009 von Sascha Kersken.

If you are into Thrash Metal as I am, you might like (and maybe already know) these bands. If you do not know them, give ‘em a try, they’re worth it.

Mantic Ritual is a Thrash Metal band from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, that reminds me (and lots of others) of early Metallica (from the Ride The Lightning era maybe). Until now, they’ve only done one album called “Executioner”. You can listen to some samples on their MySpace site.

Warbringer are even a bit heavier; one of their biggest influences might be Slayer. They have produced two albums, “War Without End” in 2008 and “Waking into Nightmares” in 2009. They, too, have got a MySpace site with some samples.

Geschrieben in Bands, English, Thrash | Keine Kommentare »

22.7.2009 von Sascha Kersken.

1. “Everything after Master of Puppets/Cliff’s death sucks”
2. “Everything after And Justice For All sucks”
3. “Everything after the Black Album sucks”
4. “Load, Reload, and St. Anger suck, while Death Magnetic is a small step back to the right direction/a giant leap for thrash metal”
5. “Load and Reload suck, while St. Anger is a small step back to the right direction”

I mean, if you don’t want a band to develop, stick with Running Wild (no offense meant). And IMHO Load and Reload are pretty awesome records which would have scored ten out of ten in each and every review if they had been produced by any other band than ‘tallica. And the raw ‘therapy record’ St. Anger is still better than any “Nu Metal” stuff ever can get. Just listen to Korn and compare them to St. Anger — ’nuff said. As for Justice or The Black Album, I won’t discuss with morons who dare to say anything bad about these classics. Nothing Else Matters might be the Metallica song for people who don’t like Metallica, but it still rocks (and my iTunes’ random play just chose to play it in the moment I started to write this sentence). And whoever cannot appreciate the undisputable qualities of, e.g., Blackened, Dyer’s Eve, To Live Is To Die, Holier Than Thou, or Of Wolf And Man should not bother to call themselves Metallica fans. Apart from the fact that they still kick ass live. Saw them twice this year (May 17 in Cologne and July 4 at Sonisphere, Hockenheimring) and they left me stunned both times. Which means that I have to admit I might be the most die-hard Metallica fan ever. The only exception might be my eleven-year-old son who can sing along to each and every track they ever wrote, hell yeah!

Geschrieben in English, Thrash, Metallica | Keine Kommentare »