The epic “Am I Evil?” is Metallica’s most famous cover, and is so well known it may as well be their own song. The next pair of NWOBHM covers were initially recorded as B-sides for the 12” vinyl version of “Creeping Death”, released as a single in 1984. This sloppy spontaneous recording is a little rough around the edges, but that’s a big part of it’s charm. also featured the first recordings of Jason Newsted with Metallica. The first five tracks come from “The $5.98 E.P.: Garage Days Re-Revisited”, which had been out of print for the best part of a decade, and dedicated collectors had been paying exorbitant prices for copies of it. Disc 2 is older stuff which already existed, but was sometimes hard to come by until this release. It also indicates where Metallica found the Southern rock and country influences which popped up on the Load albums. Yep, it’s an all-star acoustic jam that’s an all-star acoustic bore. “Tuesday’s Gone” was recorded during a radio broadcast in 1997 with a number of guest musicians, including members of Alice in Chains, Corrosion of Conformity, Lynyrd Skynrd, and even Les Claypool on banjo, and… it’s fucking tedious. It’s a boisterous, catchy party anthem, and a new take on Thin Lizzy’s take of the traditional Irish folk song. “Whiskey In The Jar” is the best song on the first disc. “Astronomy” isn’t one of those monster rockers, but Metallica turn it into one. Blue Öyster Cult don’t often get the love they deserve, even though they are the band who wrote monster rockers like “Godzilla”, “Burnin’ For You”, and “Don’t Fear The Reaper”. The songs don’t exactly merge seamlessly, and of course there’s no King Diamond helium vocals, but it’s 11 minutes of 80s satanic metal goodness. The five song Mercyful Fate medley is more traditional fare. Cave’s introspective oblique lyrics are somewhat different to the Metallica norm, but like “Turn The Page”, the song illustrates James Hetfield’s varied vocal abilities. The original switches between minimalist restraint and raucous post-punk anarchy, and Metallica doesn’t attempt to pull it off, but instead smooths out the rough edges and makes it their own. The inclusion of Nick Cave and The Bad Seed’s “Loverman” is the biggest what-the-fuck on the whole album. It’s not near as rough as “Last Caress/Green Hell” recorded a decade earlier, but it retains the boisterous energy and wicked dark humour of the original. “Die, Die My Darling” is a welcome addition to the existing collection of Misfits covers. James Hetfield’s vocals and the ruminating main riff seem to be an indicator of where “The Memory Remains” came from. It’s a brooding tale of life on the road. The first really impressive track here is “Turn The Page”, originally by Bob Seger. They just can’t reproduce Sabbath’s whacked-out stoner groove. Metallica don’t fuck it up as badly as those covers, but “Sabbra Cadabra” isn’t particularly impressive. Slayer stumbled with their version of “Hand of Doom”, and Megadeth’s “Paranoid” is almost an unintentional parody.
Covering Black Sabbath isn’t always as easy as it seems. Metallica’s love of NWOBHM band Diamond Head is well known, so a Diamond Head song was inevitable here, and while “It’s Electric” is no “Am I Evil?”, in the same vein as that famous cover, it’s not far removed from Metallica’s own style. Still, without Discharge, thrash metal wouldn’t have been thrash metal. Bob Rock does big, fat, and comfortable as a producer, with the latest in studio technology at his fingertips, while Discharge would have been recorded as quickly as possible on zero budget. It’s hard to sound desperate when you’re a multi-millionaire living comfortably. Metallica just can’t reproduce the same feel. Discharge’s originals are scuzzy and discordant, from a band on the verge of starvation. However, Metallica aren’t too good at Discharge, with “Free Speech For The Dumb” and “The More I See” bookending this disc. We know this because of their covers excellent of The Misfits, and Anti-Nowhere League’s utterly filthy “So What”.
#Metallica garage inc. u.k. verision full#
These run the full gamut of Metallica’s musical tastes, and some work better than others. Disc 1 of this double album is freshly recorded covers.
“Garage Inc.” as a covers and B-sides compilation album lays bare the influences mixed in to Metallica’s thrash metal roots which made “Metallica”, “Load”, and “Re-Load” the albums which led the band to world domination. By the turn of the millennium, Metallica had become the biggest band in metal bar none, and was surpassed in popular music by only a handful of artists, but in creating new music thrash metal had been left far behind.
The band and genre was somewhat niche, and not particularly well known outside metal and alternative music scenes. The 1990s saw Metallica start the decade as thrash metal’s biggest band.
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