| Written by Alex Stojanovic TRACK LISTING Iron Fist (Motorhead cover) Suffragette City (David Bowie cover) Life In The Fast Lane (The Eagles cover) METAL ALLEGIANCE IS: Alex Skolnick (Testament) - Guitars Mark Menghi (Metal Allegiance) - Bass Mike Portnoy (ex-Dream Theatre, Winery Dogs) - Drums Troy Sanders (Mastodon) - Vocals "Iron Fist" Mark Osegueda (Death Angel) - Vocals "Suffragette City" Alissa White-Gluz (Arch Enemy) - Vocals "Life In The Fast Lane" Release Date: August 12, 2016 Label: Nuclear Blast Records Website: www.metalallegiance.com www.facebook.com/metalallegiancetour |  |
We're past the halfway point of 2016, but this year definitely feels like a cursed year with so many of our heroes and other greats passing away. 2015 ended on a real dark note with the passing of Lemmy at the tail end of it and 2016 started off terribly with the completely unexpected deaths of David Bowie and Glenn Frey of The Eagles and it continued to darken as several more greats passed as the months went on. The crew in Metal Allegiance decided to honour Lemmy, Bowie and Glenn by recording covers of songs from each of these legends' respective catalogs, resulting in a three-song EP titled Fallen Heroes featuring Alex Skolnick of Testament on guitar, Metal Allegiance founder Mark Menghi on bass and Mike Portnoy of the Winery Dogs on drums covering Motorhead's "Iron Fist", Bowie's "Suffragette City" and the Eagles' "Life In The Fast Lane".
Just like on the incredible self-titled Metal Allegiance record that came out last year which we were all raving about and still are, each song contains a different vocalist, except it's Skolnick that's handling all the guitar duties. The EP starts with the "Iron Fist" cover with Troy Sanders from Mastodon on vocals, which is a relatively true to form cover. Honestly, when you're covering Motorhead, what is there to change? I must say that I'm glad that the band decided not to cover "Ace Of Spades". I mean, as iconic and great as the song is, the world does not need another "Ace Of Spades" cover, and "Iron Fist" happens to be my favourite Motorhead song. You can also say that it's a tribute to Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor, who passed not long before Lemmy did.
With the following two covers, Metal Allegiance were successful in giving these great, riff-oriented songs unique translations to slightly heavier arrangements. Bowie's "Suffragette City" features Mark Osegueda of Death Angel lending his signature voice to the track and the tempo is sped up a bit. Out of all the covers I've heard of this song, this version takes the cake and Osegueda does an impeccable job in the vocal department. The EP closes with the "Life In The Fast Lane" cover with Alissa White-Gluz of Arch Enemy on vocals. This is probably the most unique cover you will ever hear of this song because there aren't any recorded metal covers of Eagles songs and the combination of Portnoy's double-kick and Alissa's blending of melodic and heavy vocals makes it an awesome energetic cover. There's absolutely no doubt that Lemmy, Bowie and Glenn would've approved of these covers. There's nothing not to like here.
Highs: Superb covers of three great iconic songs from three legends who will always be remembered.
Lows: No flaws to be found.
Final Rating: 9.5/10
Just like on the incredible self-titled Metal Allegiance record that came out last year which we were all raving about and still are, each song contains a different vocalist, except it's Skolnick that's handling all the guitar duties. The EP starts with the "Iron Fist" cover with Troy Sanders from Mastodon on vocals, which is a relatively true to form cover. Honestly, when you're covering Motorhead, what is there to change? I must say that I'm glad that the band decided not to cover "Ace Of Spades". I mean, as iconic and great as the song is, the world does not need another "Ace Of Spades" cover, and "Iron Fist" happens to be my favourite Motorhead song. You can also say that it's a tribute to Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor, who passed not long before Lemmy did.
With the following two covers, Metal Allegiance were successful in giving these great, riff-oriented songs unique translations to slightly heavier arrangements. Bowie's "Suffragette City" features Mark Osegueda of Death Angel lending his signature voice to the track and the tempo is sped up a bit. Out of all the covers I've heard of this song, this version takes the cake and Osegueda does an impeccable job in the vocal department. The EP closes with the "Life In The Fast Lane" cover with Alissa White-Gluz of Arch Enemy on vocals. This is probably the most unique cover you will ever hear of this song because there aren't any recorded metal covers of Eagles songs and the combination of Portnoy's double-kick and Alissa's blending of melodic and heavy vocals makes it an awesome energetic cover. There's absolutely no doubt that Lemmy, Bowie and Glenn would've approved of these covers. There's nothing not to like here.
Highs: Superb covers of three great iconic songs from three legends who will always be remembered.
Lows: No flaws to be found.
Final Rating: 9.5/10
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