Many have tried, most haven't come close. Here's a handful of the best Metallica covers by other artists...
Metallica aren't shy of covering other bands – hell, they made a whole double-album of covers in the form of 1998s Garage Inc. – but time and again, other bands try their hand at reimagining Metallica. Everyone from Snoop Dogg to Shakira has reinterpreted The Four Horsemen over the year, but you won't find any of than nonsense here – these covers are actually good...
One of the all-time greats, taking on one of the all-time greats? That’s a recipe for a glorious, cacophonic riot. Metallica doffed their cap to the late-British legends many times in their career, but Lemmy and the lads proved two could play that game with this masterclass of brute-force power, scooping a GRAMMY award for Best Metal Performance in the process.
On the 20th anniversary of Master Of Puppets in 2006, Kerrang! magazine rounded up some of the finest bands in metal to pay tribute to that record’s influence and legacy for a special covermount CD. This brawny beast was one of the standout highlights, with the Oakland quartet going hell for leather, and Robb Flynn in particular stepping up to the plate with one of his most robust vocal recordings.
Tackling a song that’s in the upper echelons of the catalogue of a band boasting endless classics has the potential to backfire spectacularly. Good thing that Corey Taylor is a man well versed in doling out great songs, and this cut from his other band’s 2015 covers EP adds a muscular edge to the already meaty source material.
One of Metallica’s best-known songs has been covered over 100 times, so it’s going to take something special to stand out from the noise. Luckily, this Finnish cello gang started out as a 'Tallica tribute act in 1993, so they know their way around that well-thumbed tablature book. This haunting version of one of the band’s softer, more reflective tunes is among their very best.
The problem with the many Metallica covers that have been done over the years is that 99.9 per cent of the time, no matter how good the band are, the result always ends up sounding like a pale imitation of the original. Not so for this flamenco duo, who take the brooding beauty of this ’88 classic and give it wings. It helps that the Mexican pair cut their teeth in metal bands back in the day.
