In general, i would agree that cover songs are gratuitous fillers at best, and shameful coattail-riding at worst. But let's be open-minded about this! Have you ever heard a cover version and thought, "this song really sounds better in this type of style"?

For me, the example of this is the October 31 version of Saxon's "Power and the Glory". Singing "I'm a soldier of fortune, trained and ready to kill" just feels so much more dangerous in King Fiwley's strong deep rumble than in the higher 80s nwobhm style.

Anyone else think of other great covers?

This thread has been done to death.
To contribute, I'll add Crowbar's cover of Remember Tomorrow, first done by Iron Maiden. It just feels more real, and who knew a band like Crowbar could make a song like that into a sludge tune, with awesome solos and melodies still in tact?

I prefer Iced Earth's Transylvania cover rather than Iron Maidens. It's just too good.

I personally like Death's cover of Painkiller more than the original (Judas Priest). Not metal but Jimi Hendrix's version of All Along the Watchtower I like a lot better than Dylan's.

Black Sabbath's cover of Warning (Aynsley Dunbar's Retaliation). It is very faithful to the original, except I think Ozzy's voice is better, plus the extended solo.

Metallica's covers of Am I Evil? (Diamond Head) and Breadfan (Budgie). Metallica made both of those songs heavier and rock harder.

If you want to call it a cover, I like Holy Terror's "Debt of Pain" slightly more than Agent Steel's "Back to Reign"...

Nothing else comes to mind.

Call it blasphemy, but i really like Angel Dust's version of "Temple of the King" better than the original by Rainbow:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHSHbSjqjw4

One of the best covers ever.

Every cover done by this gentemen is gold. I became such a sucker for their music (including their incredible and original covers)

Dissection - The Antichrist (Slayer)
Immortal - Buried By Time And Dust (Mayhem)
Sodom - Angeldust (Venom)
W.A.S.P. - When The Levee Breaks (Led Zeppelin)
Type O Negative - Cinnamon Girl (Neil Young) and The Beatles medley
Celtic Frost - Mexican Radio (Wall Of Voodoo)
Samael - I Love The Dead (Alice Cooper)
Voivod - The Nile Song (Pink Floyd)
Vader - Rapid Fire (Judas Priest)
Skid Row - What You're Doing (Rush)

Sorry but no. It's not bad but it's far from the original, which is a beautiful song.

I'm going to second Death's cover of Painkiller.

Also, Nightwish's cover of The Phantom of the Opera is better imo with the exception of Sarah Brightman blowing Tarja away.

I couldn't agree more. The Church fucking rule. But to add to the thread I'd have to say I'm not alone when I think Joan Baez's "Diamonds and Rust" has nothing on Priest's version, as much as I like Joan Baez.

Judas Priest is one of my fave bands, but I can't say Priest's version of Diamond and Rust is better than the original, acoustic or not. The original is just so moving.

I liked Cannibal Corpses's version of No Remorse way better than the Metallica one. Original just feels very stale to me in terms of the dynamics, especially the drumming

I agree. The way that dude works his guitar in the video is really cool and big props for that. But the original song is fantastic and like you said, absolutely beautiful.

Type O Negative cover of "Black Sabbath" is darker, heavier and all round better than the original.

Fuckin' kids man, how can someone prefer this fucking awful vocal performance over Halford?

Co-signed; the Priest version is easily better. I remember hearing the Death one and it sounded like the original with a lamer guitar sound and worse vocals.

Most covers I don't think are better than the original, and they're not supposed to be. The band is just paying tribute to a song they liked, and probably would never agree with any of you that their version is better.

But as a huge Slough Feg fan I think their version of "The Wizard's Vengeance" is better than Legend's original one. Just killer vocals from Scalzi and I love the folky heavy metal guitar...Legend's version is good too, but I heard Slough Feg's first. I guess that's what does it.

Talking of Slough Feg:

I prefer this version but yeah, I'm a Scalzi fanboy!

Well, falsetto/head voice techniques just drive me up the wall, and that doesn't really matter who it is. As a harsh vocalist myself, it also completely baffles me how Chuck could use his voice the way like that, which is appealing in a droll sort of way.

Panzerchrist - "Metal Church"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jX8xQLCLt4g

First off, I absolutely love the original, one of my favorite songs off all time, so I'm not saying that the Panzerchrist cover is better than the original. I do think that is just as awesome as the original version though, and it retains the spirit of the original while still being it's own song.

Yeah, I like both versions of Painkiller but the original is definitely better. Chuck does put some passion in his vocals and I give them props for having the balls to tackle such an imposing song, but everything on the original is just so much better.

Aside from Metallica doing a generally better job with Diamond Head's songs than Diamond Head did (Sorry, just can't get into Sean Harris's voice) and some excellently executed out of genre covers, the covers I really like are generally ones that I consider to be equal to the original songs. Warrel Dane's take on The Sisters Of Mercy's Lucretia My Reflection, Annihilator's version of Van Halen's Romeo Delight, and the covers that Icarus Witch put out with their original singer.

Roses on White Lace? Yeah, Icarus Witch did a great job covering that one. Agreed with the Slough Feg covers too.

I like Turisas's cover of Tull's "Broadsword," but it's not better than the original.

Diamanthian's cover of Demigod's "As I Behold I Despise" is very well done, as is Goatsnake's cover of the Vitus song "Burial at Sea." Iron Savior's "Neon Knights" cover is fun.

The clear winners to this thread are Sodom's cover of "Surfin' Bird" and Dispatched's cover of "The Final Countdown."

Melvin's cover of Sacrifice by Flipper is way better then the original and I love Flipper. So heavy and the mood it creates is much more ominous then Flipper.

Awful vocal performance?!?!? Dude, Chuck's vocals in that cover are some of the harshest and most unique deliveries I have ever heard. I almost wish there was an album full of vocals in that style. I've never heard anything quite like it.

To add to the thread, though I prefer Edge of Sanity over Heaven Shall Burn easily, I like Heaven Shall Burn's cover of "Black Tears" much better than the original.

It's not like there much effort involved in being better than the original in this case!


I prefer Type O Negative's version of Paranoid than the original. I like the original a lot, but TON's version delivers the atmosphere better.

Going to agree with Metantoine. Death's version is absolutely dreadful. The whole song is less memorable, and the vocals sound like a cat being fisted, Dani Filth style.

To actually contribute, I can't decide whether I like Ozzy Osbourne's cover of "Sympathy for the Devil" more than the original. It's got a lot of lame things going on (Ozzy's crappy vocals are certainly one of them) but it's far more melodic than the Stones' version, which always sounded a little monotonous and boring to me.

I'm tempted to mention Repugnant's cover of "Another Vision", if only because there is no recorded version by Morbid.

Best cover ever, Celtic Frost's Sorrows of the Moon performed by Therion. Best cover ever!!!!

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Not metal, but I really like Johnny Cash's covers of "Hurt" and "Hung My Head".

As for metal, I really dig Metal Church's cover of "Highway Star", but the original is amazing so it's hard to say which is better.

Metal Church's cover of 'Highway Star'. I do love the original and I am a big fan of Deep Purple, but MC executed that cover perfectly. The live version of it off of 'Live' is really great too, but I don't think it was a good set closer.

Definitely will have to agree with you on that one. Paranoid is a good song, but Type O Negative's version, to me, sounded so much better. So dark. So eerie. So haunting.

As far as a favorite cover of mine that I enjoy more than the original, I have to say that I really love Benediction's cover of "Forged in Fire," originally done by Anvil. I listened to the original, but I don't care so much for it. Benediction's cover, however, I absolutely love.

I just can't agree with you at all and it really bothers me that his cover of that song is so well-loved. For one, some of the really key musical elements are completely left out. For two, the lyric change from "I wear my crown of shit" to "I wear my crown of thorns" is not only really lame in that it was changed to avoid profanity, but worse it totally changes the meaning and tone of the lyrics. For three, Johnny Cash was old as shit and I can't help but think Rick Rubin basically just trolled a dying old man into recording a bunch of dark, edgy stuff because he new it would help sell records to this new generation of Johnny Cash fans.

Anyway, I guess I'll throw in a vote for Asphyx's cover of Celtic Frost's "Os Abysmi Vel Daath." Over the years I've come to regard Monotheist less and less highly, but Asphyx managed to strap an extra pair of balls onto that song.

Yep, Batman.


http://www.time.com/time/magazine/artic ... z2SOYg5oAj

Personally I think NIN's "Hurt" and Johnny Cash's "Hurt" are about equal, but JC definitely does "Hung My Head" better. If we're gonna discuss non-metal covers, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' "The Carnival Is Over" is beautiful, whereas The Seekers' version is soppy, sentimental rubbish. Nick Cave is talented that way.

It's hard to say it's better, but one of my favorite Entombed covers is "Night of the Vampire" by Roky Erickson and I definitely prefer it over the original.
Also, I'll take "Antisocial" by Anthrax over Trust and "So What" by Metallica over Anti-Nowhere League.

A great cover of Under a Funeral Moon by Taran. Glad to see this band just became active again because their demo/split was incredible.


Fleshgod Apocalypse cover of At The Gates - Blinded by Fear. Fuckin brutal

I haven't quite decided whether it's better than the original, they're about equal for me at this point because it's one of my favorite fucking songs of all time but Thou's cover of soundgarden's "4th of July" is just amazing to my ears. I spin that track all the time.