(written by Islander)
This Halloween will mark five years of Holy Death, the doom-drenched death metal crushers who call Long Beach, California home. To commemorate the anniversary, and to tide fans over while the band work on their next album, they’re releasing a new EP of cover songs.
The EP leads with Holy Death‘s rendition of Metallica‘s “Sad But True“, and that’s the name of the EP as well. It’s the group’s way of paying respects to a band and a song that have been a “massive influence” on them, and we’re premiering that cover today.
The EP also includes re-mixed and re-mastered versions of two other cover songs they’ve previously released — Metallica‘s “Creeping Death” and Entombed‘s “Wolverine Blues“. Altogether, the EP makes for an excellent way to make your Halloween more electric — and more horrifying.
If you know the original version of “Sad But True” (and really, what self-respecting metalhead doesn’t know the original?), you know it’s one of Metallica‘s doomiest, chuggiest, most sinister songs, and a big neck-bender too, as well as home to chilling lyrics and some deliciously slithering soloing. In other words, a great cover-candidate for what Holy Death do so well.
And while Holy Death‘s rendition is recognizably “Sad But True“, it’s not a carbon copy. It’s even more pulverizing, more ugly and mangling in its tones, more nightmarish in its impact. Some of those differences can be traced to the bestial blood-curdling bellowing and raw and ragged howling of Holy Death‘s vocals, as compared to Hetfield‘s venomous snarls, and to the even more viper-like soloing, which oozes poison. It will work your neck too, and bust up your bones, and when Holy Death slow things down at the end, the sound is catastrophic.
In the player below you’ll also have a chance to listen to those two other re-mixed and re-mastered covers — two more classics given the bone-smashing, horror-house Holy Death treatment. Both of them are terrific, presenting “Creeping Death” as a muscle-moving mauler laced with supernatural soloing and punishing grooves, and “Wolverine Blues” as a jagged and ghoulish romp, a skull-cracker that oozes purulence, capped by some really deranged braying vocals.
And hey, for newcomers the EP also ought to whet your appetites for more of what this band have done, and help explain why this makes the eighth time I’ve written about them in the last 4+ years.
The Sad But True EP features terrific cover art by CVSPE. It will be digitally released on October 31st, and it’s available for pre-order now on Bandcamp for the meager sum of $1 — though you might consider skipping a beer or two today and chipping in that money to help support Holy Death‘s future endeavors.
PRE-ORDER:
https://holydeathdoom.bandcamp.com/album/sad-but-true
FOLLOW HOLY DEATH:
http://www.instagram.com/holydeathdoom
http://www.facebook.com/holydeathdoom
https://holydeathdoom.bandcamp.com/