Anyone who's seen Metallica live knows the feeling when the clean intro of Battery chimes through the venue. The tension that precedes its monstrous galloping main riff is palpable. But would it be quite so tense if the track were in a major key?
In his latest video, YouTuber Börje Unchained! – together with TheRocketQueen90 on vocals and Tuomas Wäinölä on lead guitar – sets out to reimagine the Master of Puppets cut in said major key, and the results are interesting, to say the least.
Donning appropriately smiley masks of James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, Lars Ulrich – and one that's an amalgam of Cliff Burton, Jason Newsted and Rob Trujillo – the Finnish YouTuber turns the 'Tallica favorite into an easycore-esque, pop-punk anthem.
In the video's description, he salutes the thrash metal greats and wishes a “happy birthyear” to the band's 1986 album Master of Puppets before writing: “Another Metallica cover with a twist of rotten lemon? Yes indeed!”
The cover follows Börje Unchained! last video, in which he re-recorded Enter Sandman as if it were performed by Iron Maiden.
Metallica recently celebrated the 35th anniversary of Master of Puppets with a blazing performance of Battery – the non-major key version – on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.
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Sam was Staff Writer at GuitarWorld.com from 2019 to 2023, and also created content for Total Guitar, Guitarist and Guitar Player. He has well over 15 years of guitar playing under his belt, as well as a degree in Music Technology (Mixing and Mastering). He's a metalhead through and through, but has a thorough appreciation for all genres of music. In his spare time, Sam creates point-of-view guitar lesson videos on YouTube under the name Sightline Guitar.
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