SIX FEET UNDER - "GRAVEYARD CLASSICS" (METAL BLADE)
SIX FEET UNDER - "GRAVEYARD CLASSICS" (METAL BLADE)
I am not sure how many people there are who like old fart style hardrock (Deep Purple, Thin Lizzy, Exodus, Venom, old Scorpions, Black Sabbath) as well as more contemporary musical forms such as death and black metal. Six Feet Under's "Graveyard Classics", which basically consists of various old tracks (hardrock and punk) replayed in a death metal style, may therefore be of limited appeal to most people. Keep in mind when you read the rest of this that I am myself an older fart (33 at the time I write this, anyway) who likes a lot of the old stuff yet finds no fault at all with contemporary death and black metal styles...
Chris Barnes' deep growl is as characteristic of Six Feet Under as the very heavy production. Somewhat dissimilar from earlier SFU work, Greg Call lays down more varied drums than you'd ever be likely to hear on conventional Six Feet Under albums.
"Graveyard Classics" starts with the excellent "Holocaust" (original by Savatage), and on the way to the bonus tracks ("War Machine" originally by Kiss, "Wrathchild" by Iron Maiden and "Jailbreak" by Thin Lizzy) you find more excellence in the shape of the rather climactic "Piranha" (Exodus), "Smoke on the Water" (Deep Purple, cliche choice but OK version), "Blackout" (Scorpions, with guest vocals by John Bush) and the evil-sounding "In League with Satan" (Venom). The tracks that were originally punk ("Stepping Stone" originally by The Sex Pistols, "California Uber Alles" by Dead Kennedys) do rather less for me, basically because I think punk is for retards who cannot play their instruments. In between the climaxes and the punk tracks there are a couple of 'simply OK' tracks, which include "TNT" (AC/DC), "Sweet Leaf" (Black Sabbath), "Son of a Bitch" (Accept), "Confused" (Angelwitch) and "Purple Haze" (Hendrix).
This album is well performed, sounds very good, and I for one liked it a lot.
Click here to check out or buy this CD
RK
Written December 2000