5 favourite metal / rock covers, by UK band SUNFALL – new massive cover of “Roots Bloody Roots” by SEPULTURA streaming!

UK heavy beatdown / deathcore / metalcore blender SUNFALL  already gave us their top influnces for their “nu beatdown” metalcore deathcore sound, and today, fresh off the release of their high energy cover of SEPULTURA’s holy icon “Roots Bloody Roots”, they’re back with a special selection of top 5 metal covers worth a check.

Capturing what can only be known as “the descent” in the band’s name ‘Sunfall’, the quartet have created a deadly machine that presents itself as a storm of music. Traversing the multi-dimensional world of art and vibrations, Sunfall’s music takes many forms and embraces the full potential of futuristic genre blending and fluidity. The true wonder of Sunfall comes from the unpredictable animalistic nature of their music.

As an unrelenting Nu-Core band from the UK, Sunfall recently released singles ‘Industrial’, ‘Seducer’, ‘Toxicant’, ‘Neon’ and ‘Quiet Kid’ which saw the band receive high praise and approval from the world-renowned YouTube personality Nik Nocturnal, as well as coverage with Rock Sound, KnotFest, Metal Injection, Revolver Magazine and more.

The band have also gone on to gather the attention of playlist curators at Spotify, Sumerian Records, Apple Music, Deezer, Pandora and Tidal. Sunfall have shared stages with a wealth of bands, including the likes of Monuments, The Royal, Hacktivist, Martyr Defiled, Bound in Fear and Distant, amongst many more.

Having previously covered Slipknot’s ‘No Life’ the band has released a cover of Sepultura’s ‘Roots Bloody Roots’. The track is accompanied by a sick anime infused visualiser too. GO HERE to check it out and check out the band’s selection for best 5 metal covers worth a check.

A Day To Remember – Since U Been Gone

Sam: While not exactly a very “metal” cover, it certainly has its moments. ADTR have legitimately turned this iconic pop song into their own. Jeremy Mckinnon’s voice is PERFECT for the track, utilising his clean and screamed vocals effortlessly. The track starts with a somber intro that eventually builds into a 8th note chug and 2 step like beat, it follows through to a soaring chorus that never fails to hit the mark. As we get into the second verse, the classic metalcore chugs that ADTR are known for infusing with pop punk, layer over Mckinnon’s iconic vocal for the 2nd verse that transition to a short but sweet breakdown, it is just perfect. As well as being an exceptional cover, I’d argue to say this is in ADTR’s top tracks ever.

Suicide Silence – Engine No.9 – Live at the Mitch Lucker Memorial Show

Ryan: I personally like when a cover sticks to the original track’s vibe and in-corporates the band’s style, it’s hard to do without loosing the identity of one or the other. I think SS absolutely nailed this tune, the original is so hyperactive and angsty, but SS brought this heaviness to the tune with the low tuned guitars and Mitch’s bars during the verse sections, which I still have no idea how the band synced up to it for the show. It all leads to a huge slow down right at the end that is a pure mosh moment. You can really tell the band are massive Deftones fans and made the tune their own.

VCTMS – The Nameless

Oli: I went into this cover with no expectations, and I came out the other end blown away. With covers you can always stay authentic to the original or re-write the song in the style of your own band’s sound, and VCTMS succeeded with the latter. The song kicks in with guitars down tuned further than the drop B Slipknot wrote the song in and from the get-go you’re listening to Slipknot through VCTM’s lenses. Where this song really came into its own was the latter half…. The sheer brutality and the heaviness just become all-consuming and to have that complimented with Meredith’s clean vocals was something special. Then oh boy… yes they extended the outro, slowed things down and just emphasised the dirt.

Speed Demon – Xerath

James: A little bit of an obscure choice as I’m sure not many people know that this cover exists, but it’s out there. When we normally think about metal covers of pop songs, we often thing of someone playing the same chords as the song putting very little thought into it and layering some screaming vocals just make it sound ‘metal’. Xerath have taken this track and made it entirely their own. Over the top orchestral elements with crushing rhythm guitars to reflect the original tracks various synths and bass lines combined with some killer drum grooves and great vocal production makes this an impressive cover of a classic Michael Jackson song. This has always been one of my favourite metal covers of any song, not only is the original a great work of production, arrangement, and instrumentation but this cover reflects that entirely. You can tell Xerath put a lot of thought and effort into this cover to make it work and sound as good as it can. It was such a shame I never got to see these guys play this cover live, I’m sure it would have had a great crowd reaction.

Alien Ant Farm – Smooth Criminal

Sunfall: It’s pretty hard for a cover song to legitimately beat the original, especially when the original artist is none other than Michael Jackson. The Riverside Californian’s take this track into their own hands to chuck a classic 2000’s nu metal twist that grooves all the way through. I think the majority can agree this is one of the best if not, THE BEST cover of all time regardless of genre. While Alien Ant Farm are known quite exclusively for this cover, they are definitely not a one hit wonder kinda band. They are incredibly talented musicians and the album this is from (Anthology) slaps, it shows these guys really do know how to write songs and not just cover one. My (Sam) highschool band covered this song about a dozen times over a course of 3 years and we never got sick of it (apart from the time we butchered it, in an encore we didn’t see coming hahaha). Lightning in a bottle doesn’t happen often, but for this cover the stars aligned. Banger approved.