Royal Blood Go Darker With Metallica ‘Sad But True’ Cover
Royal Blood once asked the question How Did We Get So Dark? as the title of one of their albums. Is it possible that Metallica could be part of the answer?
The U.K. duo lean into their darker tendencies to take on a pretty faithful cover of the Metallica classic, though Mike Kerr does unleash some pretty impressive riffing later in the track varying off the original.
As you might expect of just about any Metallica cover these days, it's part of the massive Metallica Blacklist compilation that features a 53 interpretations of songs from Metallica's self-titled "Black" album from artists across a variety of genres. Phoebe Bridgers, Chris Stapleton, Weezer, Volbeat, J. Balvin, Jon Pardi, Biffy Clyro, OFF!, Miley Cyrus, St. Vincent, Juanes and Ghost are just some of the acts that have released their covers so far.
Like their predecessors, Royal Blood have taken up Metallica on the chance to split the sales proceeds between Metallica's All Within My Hands Foundation and the charity of their choosing. "It was an honour to be asked to be a part of this, and we're very happy to be supporting the All Within My Hands Foundation and Chestnut Tree House," said Royal Blood about their cover and the decision to donate to a children's hospice.
Royal Blood's "Sad But True" also comes with an Aaron Hynes-directed video, which centers on primarily featureless beings mirroring the hopelessness of the track walking hunched and slumped through what feels like a never-ending maze. Watch the video below and you can pick up the Royal Blood cover here. And be sure to also check out Royal Blood's standout 2021 new album Typhoons.
This week also gives us another cover as Goodnight, Texas, a more folk rock outfit, have dropped their take on Metallica's "Of Wolf and Man." It also comes with a video, this one done in more animated fashion by Hidden Road Studios. The song is available here and the group has dubbed the NAACP Empowerment Programs as their designated charity.
The Goodnight, Texas cover also coincides with Metallica themselves releasing a spirited 1993 live version of "Of Wolf and Man" that you can check out here.
Metallica are currently celebrating the 30th anniversary of their monster self-titled 1991 "Black" album with a massive remastered deluxe edition box set coming on Sept. 10. You can place your orders for that here. One of the highlights of that collection is the aforementioned Metallica Blacklist covers compilation and pre-orders can also be placed here.
- NEW MUSIC PLAYLIST: Keep up with each week's new songs by following Loudwire's 'Weekly Wire' Spotify playlist, featuring 50 tracks with updates each Friday afternoon.