| Written by Alex Stojanovic PERSONNEL Dave Mustaine - Vocals & lead guitars Randy Blythe - Vocals Mark Morton - Lead guitars Willie Adler - Rhythm guitars John Campbell - Bass Art Cruz - Drums Kiko Loureiro - Lead guitars James Lomenzo - Gang vocals Dirk Verbeuren - Gang vocals Release Date: April 1, 2022 Megadeth Website: www.megadeth.com Lamb Of God Website: www.lamb-of-god.com |  |
As I said before, reworking a classic track to give it a modern touch is always a double-edged sword. For one, modern production definitely gives tracks that were originally recorded with old-school production some new life and more beef given how much recording technology has advanced in 35 years. Secondly, die-hard fans who have been listening to the original recording for years and years have grown used to the song the way it is, and are left wondering why a band decided to re-work a song that was already perfect in their eyes. For Megadeth, they never did full re-recordings of any of their classics. The closest thing they did to re-working any of the classics is when Dave Mustaine decided to remix and remaster all the albums from Killing Is My Business up to Cryptic Writings, with some of the songs having re-worked vocals only, but the whole albums having a re-worked snare sound as well. However, to celebrate them going on the second leg of the Metal Tour Of The Year with co-headliners Lamb Of God, the two bands got together to do a modern version of the Megadeth classic "Wake Up Dead".
The track also features the current members of the Megadeth lineup. Since the drums were already done by Art Cruz, Dirk Verbeuren, along with James Lomenzo, provided backup gang vocals at the end during the “you die” segment. The signature voices of Mustaine and Randy Blythe mixed together give the song a whole new level of aggression. Like I mentioned above, when a classic is re-recorded or re-worked, it causes mixed reactions because there’s people that love it when a classic gets a modern upgrade, and there’s people that wonder why a band would ever do such a thing to a song that was already perfect. I certainly have favourite classic metal tracks that I think are perfect the way they are and they don’t need a modern touch. However, there are some modernized versions of classic tracks that I think sound more definitive and more alive than the original versions do. With “Wake Up Dead”, I’ll take both versions.
Given the amount of history Megadeth and Lamb Of God have had with tours together, and even sharing members on occasion (i.e: Chris Adler on Dystopia), this collaboration is not just a collaboration, but it’s more of a case of metal’s two biggest bands coming together to give a classic some modern life and celebrating the history they’ve build together.
The track also features the current members of the Megadeth lineup. Since the drums were already done by Art Cruz, Dirk Verbeuren, along with James Lomenzo, provided backup gang vocals at the end during the “you die” segment. The signature voices of Mustaine and Randy Blythe mixed together give the song a whole new level of aggression. Like I mentioned above, when a classic is re-recorded or re-worked, it causes mixed reactions because there’s people that love it when a classic gets a modern upgrade, and there’s people that wonder why a band would ever do such a thing to a song that was already perfect. I certainly have favourite classic metal tracks that I think are perfect the way they are and they don’t need a modern touch. However, there are some modernized versions of classic tracks that I think sound more definitive and more alive than the original versions do. With “Wake Up Dead”, I’ll take both versions.
Given the amount of history Megadeth and Lamb Of God have had with tours together, and even sharing members on occasion (i.e: Chris Adler on Dystopia), this collaboration is not just a collaboration, but it’s more of a case of metal’s two biggest bands coming together to give a classic some modern life and celebrating the history they’ve build together.
RSS Feed
