Hear Volbeat's galloping, anthemic take on Metallica's Don’t Tread on Me

(from left) Rob Caggiano and Michael Poulsen of Volbeat perform on stage at Sala La Riviera on October 09, 2019 in Madrid, Spain
(Image credit: Javier Bragado/Redferns)

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 relationship, 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 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.

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Jackson Maxwell

Jackson is an Associate Editor at GuitarWorld.com. He’s been writing and editing stories about new gear, technique and guitar-driven music both old and new since 2014, and has also written extensively on the same topics for Guitar Player. Elsewhere, his album reviews and essays have appeared in Louder and Unrecorded. Though open to music of all kinds, his greatest love has always been indie, and everything that falls under its massive umbrella. To that end, you can find him on Twitter crowing about whatever great new guitar band you need to drop everything to hear right now.