Welcome to the fifth installment of “Under Covers,” a biweekly column dedicated to exploring the musical possibilities of artists appreciating one another’s work on both the OurStage and national levels!
A sagacious metal head once bequeathed to me the 3 most fundamental aspects of any legitimate metal song: power, attitude, and decibels. If this is true, and I believe it is, one wouldn’t expect acoustic covers of metal songs to pan out so well. But as classical Spanish guitarists Rodrigo Y Gabriela have masterfully demonstrated, acoustic covers of metal songs extract the gorgeous musical nuances hidden within the power chords, screaming and speed pedaling in the original metal version. Muddy metal chords adopt an entirely new personality when transitioning to a clean acoustic sound, bumping up a few octaves, and replacing the militaristic metal percussion with hand drumming and intricate strumming patterns. Take for instance Rodgrigo Y Gabriela’s cover of the Metallica song “Orion.” The original version slowly fades in with a steady, driving rock beat, and the guitar chords enter one after another right on time in true metal fashion. The Mexican duo adequately replaces this drumming with Gabriela’s impressive hand percussion on the body of the guitar, and Rodrigo decides to arpeggiate the dark, distorted chords, presenting each note individually, in turn expanding the sound.
Rodrigo Y Gabriela
Staying true to metal form, Rodrigo does not improvise, instead playing the same solo that Kirk Hammett plays on the Metallica version. Despite being acoustic, the resulting product is “shredtacular,” as Rodrigo Y Gabriela make up for and lost intensity by playing at a faster tempo
OurStage is home to many songs exuding the quintessentially metallic “power, attitude and decibel” gems. And while many of them could be adequately transferred into the acoustic realm, A Vision Grotesque’s “King of the Massacre” stands out in particular to me. Opening with a spastic guitar riff followed by locked and loaded percussion, this song is packed with musical fury from the get-go. “King of the Massacre” travels through many different time and tempo environments as well, sometimes placing a racing lead solo over a momentous set of half time mammoth metal chords, at other times employing the opposite, with extremely rapid drumming milling beneath a stagnant bass and lead. The most endearing surprise appears at 2:31, at a point in the song where the traditional metal “breakdown” would usually announce itself. However, instead of a brutally raucous breakdown, a delicate acoustic medley enters instead.
A Vision Grotesque
The next minute or so are composed of an epic acoustic build sounding more gentle than metal. At 3:44, the hard rock vibe breaks back in with full force, but still hasn’t reached the metal caliber that was evident earlier in the song. With the onset of frenetic strumming and drumming, said metal climax returns with chaotic chorus screaming @ 4:51. The song has officially come full circle. With so many musical offerings in five chaotic minutes, the acoustic cover possibilities are a dream come true.
Of course, these songs cannot be accurately transformed without talented musicians to perform the “shred” in their own style. Enter 15 year musical veterans Sol Y Canto. Hailing from Cambridge, MA, this seasoned Latin outfit has received a slew of hefty awards throughout their career, including Best of Boston for Latin Rhythms by Boston Magazine and Outstanding Latin Act by the Boston Music Awards. Their performance resume isn’t too shabby either, having performed at Boston’s Symphony Hall and the California World Music Festival. That being said, they’re plenty talented enough to work some Latin magic on “King of the Massacre.” I would transfer the opening riff (and the rest of the lead guitar) over to piano. Partly because piano is the only other instrument in Sol Y Canto besides guitar that would be able to play that riff, and because how many times to you hear guitar riffs played by a piano? I think this would be an interesting trend to carry throughout the entire song, giving the piano the lead riffs while the acoustic guitar (harmonized by flute and saxophone) played the rhythm guitar parts of the original song. Of course, adequate congas would be necessary to keep it moving, despite the hand cramps that might entail. Another instrument capable of driving the song forward is the bass, but the bass is rather neglected in the original song, just playing root notes in a rhythm matching that of the rhythm guitar. I would have the bass walk at a fast tempo and vary outside of the tonic key, a move that would undoubtedly inject some more pep into the acoustic version.
Sol Y Canto
At 1:16, where the percussion plays a tempo double the rest and the vocals turn melodic for the first time, I would have the flute and saxophone take over the vocal line, and piano, guitar and congas take over for the rhythm. When the acoustic interlude comes in, a vocal-guitar-vocal pattern develops. I would have the flute take the vocal line, and the saxophone take the guitar line that follows. This would give the section some nice diversity, especially with the piano and acoustic guitar supplying some ornamented background chords underneath. When the big riff comes back at 3:42, I think it would be neat to give it to every instrument in the ensemble, a combination of sorts giving it the most encompassing sound yet. With the re-entrance of this hard rock feel, I would make every instrument as quiet as possible, so that the metal climax would receive as much shock value attention as deserved when it arrives at 4:51. The song’s departure would achieve its full circle potential if the same instrumentation that was used for the first chorus was brought back the second time around at the end.
With some diversified instrumentation, dynamics and altered rhythm, the rugged metal shell is cracked, revealing the often-concealed musical beauty within. If you think this could be fun, pick up some non-amplified instruments and give it a go!
