It seems like I’ve been hearing a lot of metal bands doing
\nalbums of cover tunes recently. The first one that comes to mind is
\nMetallica’s
\nGarage Inc.<\/i>, a disc I still have never been able to get
\nthrough without turning it off in disgust. Not that long ago, I was
\nplowing through
\nCoverkill<\/i> from Overkill. Now, it’s Helloween’s turn with
\ntheir recently-released disc
\nMetal Jukebox<\/i>.<\/p>\n
If you think that these projects are alike, think again.
\nMetal Jukebox<\/i> is closer to
\nGarage Inc.<\/i> in that Andi Deris and crew choose to cover
\ngroups you wouldn’t expect a metal band to recognize, much less
\nlike. But for the most part, Helloween make this project sound like
\na lot of fun – and I count only two misguided choices among some
\nsplendid surprises.<\/p>\n
Let’s get to the miscues first. As admirable as their version of
\nJethro Tull’s “Locomotive Breath” is (and, I’ve got to admit, they
\ndo perform it well), something is missing without any type of flute
\nwork a la Ian Anderson. On its own, it’s a decent effort, but there
\nis an emptiness to the song without this one key component.<\/p>\n
The only other move I question – and I believe their hearts were
\nin the right place – is the new version of The Beatles’s “All My
\nLoving”. Somehow, I can’t imagine John Lennon and Paul McCartney
\nwriting this one with double bass kick drums in mind. The song just
\ndoesn’t fit the type of music that Helloween plays – but they get a
\npassing grade for trying.<\/p>\n
The bulk of
\nMetal Jukebox<\/i> takes on a good portion of the rock spectrum,
\nfrom fellow countrymen (“He’s A Woman, She’s A Man” from the
\nScorpions), classic rock stalwarts (“Space Oddity” from David
\nBowie, “White Room” from Cream”) – and a few songs you might not be
\nfamiliar with (“Mexican” from Alan Shacklock). Deris’s vocals
\nthroughout the album are surprisingly lower-key than one would have
\nexpected, but his style fits the mood of this album perfectly.<\/p>\n
The real surprises on
\nMetal Jukebox<\/i> come on the songs you’d never expect to hear
\nthis band play. Their cover of “Hocus Pocus” (originally done by
\nFocus) is the best take on this track I’ve heard since the
\noriginal. And, let’s face it, who would have expected a metal band
\n– even one from Europe – to cover Abba? Still, they’re able to
\nraise “Lay All Your Love On Me” to a new level that even the
\nheadbangers can truly appreciate.<\/p>\n
Other hidden treats include covers from the Sensational Alex
\nHarvey Band (“Faith Healer”) and Frank Marino (“Juggernaut”),
\ngroups you might not be very familiar with, but will want to
\nexplore more thanks to Helloween’s bringing them to people’s
\nattention. And, in a way, that’s what’s special about Metal
\nJukebox. It’s one thing to take a better-known group like Faith No
\nMore (“From Out Of Nowhere”) and put your own spin on their song.
\nIt’s another to remind people that there are lesser-known, but just
\nas important, groups out there – and Helloween does all these bands
\njustice with their versions of the songs.<\/p>\n
\nMetal Jukebox<\/i> is not meant to take the place of a studio
\nalbum from Helloween; instead, think of this one as a way for the
\nband to clear the pipes by having fun with the music that shaped
\ntheir lives. There’s the key word: fun. It’s a perfect word to
\ndescribe this album, and the kind of reaction you’ll have when you
\nlisten to it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25141,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6176],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-36346","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-helloween","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36346"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36346\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36346"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=36346"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=36346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}