under-covers: Judas Priest/Hellsongs

Perhaps, one of the greatest guilty pleasures in my life: the perverse enjoyment I get listening to musicians covering other artist's songs. The weirder the cover, the better! It doesn't matter how awkward or horrible the quality (shitty cell phone video, I'm looking at you), I'm an absolute sucker for this stuff. Here's the latest installment of "under-covers."

Today we feature legendary heavy metal icons Judas Priest and their anti-authoritarian anthem "Breaking the Law." This song is over 30 years old and still gets heads banging and fists pumping like nobodies business.

That riff, dear lord it's that riff! Catchy and just cool as hell.

And now we head to Hellsongs' version of this classic tune. Don't let their name fool you though, despite their rough moniker, the band is anything but (411 on Hellsongs HERE).

HA. I love it. So mellow and un-metal that it works. At least I think so. Once again, that riff grabs you by the throat, only this time its the acoustic, tropical lounge version. While I appreciate the quirky nature of this version and love how it breathes new life into a three decade old song, nothing tops the original and Halford's gnarly high pitched wails.

What do you kids think?

Hellsongs

Hellsongs- Serving up Swedish bits of Heaven

First, I have to thank the folks at Metalsucks.net for inspiring this post. Strange, the day after my lengthy Pantera rant my favorite metal douche lords post THIS.

What? Didn't click the link provided to their original post? It's alright, I'll break it down for ya. The metalsucks cats posted an AWESOME folksy/indie/acoustic cover of Pantera's "Walk" performed by a Swedish trio called Hellsongs. Apparently, the dudes (and gal) of Hellsongs have been cranking out their quirky lounge versions of metal classics for a few years now. I'll give you a few examples of their handy work to drool over.

In keeping with my recent Pantera binge, here's the original version of Pantera's "Walk."

"Can't you hear, the violins, playing your SOoooooooooooong?!" Damn I love that part.

So here's Hellsongs quirky ass take on this aggro classic.

Mind blown? Mine was.

Here's another example of their hippie/Swedish mind-fuckery:

Yeah, thats "Blackened," by Metallica. Easily one of the most brutal songs they've ever written. Here's how it normally sounds:


The comments on the metalsucks article as well as Hellsongs' youtube videos show just how polarizing stuff like this can be. People either love the breath of proverbial fresh air covers like this provide in the often stale metal community or flat out decry this stuff as retarded, pussy shit. Well, I for one like metal, can be known to act retarded on occasion and happen to embrace my softer "pussy shit" side (see recent Interpol/Arcade Fire posts) so I can't help but gush over what Hellsongs is doing. Check em' out.