As a huge fan of death metal in several ways, I feel like I’m violating some part of the invisible death metal code that I’m not a huge particular fan of Six Feet Under. It just seems that everyone else around me who likes the genre likes this band while as I’m just all “nah, no thanks” about them. I’ve got huge respect for them, though, and part of that respect has to deal with their “Graveyard Classics” series where they go through and do death metal covers of some classic heavy metal songs. In this instance with issue numbah four this band goes through and covers some essential music marvels from two of the greatest heavy metal bands of all time: Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. Comprised of six Maiden and five Priest tracks, “Number of the Priest” does nothing but justice for the classics such as “Night Crawler”, “Starbreaker”, and “Flash of the Blade” to name a few. Taking some of the most renowned pieces of heavy metal to have ever existed and transforming them into brutal anthems that sound just as good, if not better, is a hard feat to accomplish by any band ever. Yet, Six Feet Under still managed to do a solid job with “Number of the Priest” to give those of us who love those classics a brutal new take that we can head bang even more to, and that’s a gift that just keeps on giving. The only problem I have with this album is that the vocals have a quality that sounds like they would be found on a demo as they don’t sound mixed or mastered at all to me, but after listening to it they kind of grew on me but I still think they could’ve been done much better. Other than that, I do have to say Six Feet Under did another awesome job with “Graveyard Classics” as this has the potential to get many people like myself who aren’t big fans of the group to get us into their style of death metal by easing us in with covers of songs that we’ve come t know and love over the years. I, personally, can’t think of a better way to get into a band, and Six Feet Under nails it just about every single way they could, and I cannot help but applaud them over the success that is “Number of the Priest”.
“Graveyard Classics IV: Number of the Priest” releases on May 27th! You can pre-order the album via iTunes here.
