Six Feet Under put a very entertaining album a few years back, “Graveyard Classics,” that featured various covers of music that was all over the board…from Dead Kennedys to Deep Purple to Hendrix to Venom. That album was enjoyable but most likely for reasons other than the band wanted…it was ridiculous and so bad you had to enjoy it. Come on, Cookie Monster singing “Smoke on the Water” is fucking funny.
So when I heard they were putting out another covers album I figured it would be more of the same…some expected material (Venom, maybe some Slayer or Sepultura) and then some punk or who knows, even glam surprises.
Instead, we get AC/DC’s classic album “Back in Black” completely redone. Something that may have helped this album slightly though not saved it, would be some sort of booklet...you know with essays by the band members with why they chose to cover this whole album, why it's that important to them, how it influenced them, etc. SOMETHING! The booklet has the track listing, thanks, and a band photo. To me, if I were to be in a band that put out a cover record I'd want to talk a bit about why I picked to do certain songs, what they meant to me, some background with why I feel it's a good idea to do it. Nothing like that is in this.
Okay, part one was fun because there was variety with the covers, there were surprises, and while musically the covers were pretty much straight, the growling vocals made the whole project fun. The key to its success was the variety.
“Back in Black” is what many consider to be AC/DC’s definitive album. This was the first album after the passing of Bon Scott, it was the record that saved the band’s career (if the album was anything less than great it would’ve been all over), it is one of the best selling albums of all time, and it spawned four hit songs that are still played on many radio stations (including those that specialize “contemporary rock”).
I’m not sure who the hell would actually like this.
Death metal fans probably won’t because it’s not death metal…it’s cock rock with death metal vocals.
AC/DC fans probably won’t like it because the band doesn’t exactly do anything special with it.
The rare people who like death metal AND bands like AC/DC (like myself) will probably not like it because when I buy a covers record I don’t want an album I already own redone by one band. The only way this could be acceptable would be if they did something to make these songs (or at least some of them) uniquely their own. Musically, the covers are straight…I suppose they’re downtuned a bit, and of course Barnes growls instead of squealing like Brian Johnson, but the novelty of Cookie Monster vocals wears out quickly.
A huge problem that really began to show in the last Six Feet Under record “Bringer of Blood” is how bad Chris Barnes’s vocals have become. Many people suggest that his excessive pot use has screwed up his vocals, except I guess they’ve forgotten that Chris Barnes started his career over 15 years ago in Cannibal Corpse. Both of those bands do a hell of a lot of touring. I’d guess that being on the road frequently for a decade and a half probably is beginning to take its toll.
Barnes sounds bad. Really bad. Listen to the song “Back in Black” for a good example. Check out the chorus “ba-a-a-a-ck” part. It sounds like he’s coughing. Actually, on the whole song it sounds like he’s coughing. Actually, on most of the album it sounds like he’s coughing.
And I like the death metal style…so this isn’t me saying “oh the vocal style sucks.” This is me saying that vocals that could be executed well are sound terrible.
It’s more sad than anything. I don’t know much about Barnes, he seems like a nice enough guy but I think it may be time to either give the cords a rest, try a new vocal style, or dare I say, hang up the mic and just work behind the scenes. I’d bet a lot of bands would pay a lot of money to have their album recorded by Chris Barnes.
At least “Bringer of Blood” had some redeeming value…”Murdered in the Basement” was a great song for example, but this is flat out bad. Sometimes records are so bad they’re good (“Graveyard Classics Part One” I suppose) but this one’s has passed that point. It’s sad, it’s poorly executed, it’s a bad idea, and it fails on every level.
