Thus far, The Metallica Blacklist – the upcoming, 53-track tribute to Metallica's 16-times platinum-certified self-titled fifth LP (known to most as the Black Album) – has produced a fascinating variety of covers.
We've heard Jason Isbell country-fry Sad But True, Wherever I May Roam get a hip-hop-inspired reworking from J Balvin, and gotten a tease of Kamasi Washington's surreal, jazzy take on My Friend of Misery.
Now, the latest cut from the tribute-album-to-end-all-tribute-albums has arrived, an uptempo take on Don’t Tread on Me from Danish hard-rockers Volbeat.
You can give the cover – and its appropriately post-apocalyptic, Aaron Hymes-directed video – a spin below.
Volbeat and Metallica have a longstanding (opens in new tab) relationship (opens in new tab), and indeed the former's cover is slightly more faithful to its source material than some of the other Metallica Blacklist samples we've heard thus far, with the sledgehammer riffs and the wah-drenched cries of Kirk Hammett's original solo retained for the most part.
Where Metallica's 1991 recording contracts and snarls though, Volbeat's cover is more approachable, with some almost-psychedelic electric guitar leads in the chorus from Rob Caggiano departing from the concrete-like sonic landscape of the original.
The Metallica Blacklist (opens in new tab) is set for a September 10 release via Blackened Recordings.
All proceeds from the album will be split evenly between Metallica's All Within My Hands foundation and over 50 charities chosen by artists who appear on the record.