CD Review: The Iron Horse: Fade to Bluegrass

This CD features some fine pickin' and singin' from four guys who've decided to do for bluegrass what Apocalyptica did for the 'cello: play Metallica covers. The Alabama-based quartet puts an innovative spin on Metallica's "One" which retains the emotional power of the original, despite a radical re-arrangement of the song's final section.

Four Alabamans who play Metallica: The Iron Horse

The disc opens with a propulsive cover of “Unforgiven” that has more energy than Metallica’s majestic stomp. The same could be said for their high-speed version of “Nothing Else Matters.” The Horse gallop where Metallica stomp, with banjos and mandolins intertwining at radical speed. Tenor singer Vance Henry is in a higher register than James Hetfield’s baritone roar, but he has a pleasing voice and is ably backed by the other three Horsemen. As he soars into the opening phrase of “Enter Sandman” backed by comping mandolin, one cannot help but smile and headbang a little to the bluegrass beat.

The band takes the opposite approach to “Hero of the Day” from Load, starting ultra-slow and shifting gears into a rapid tempo. But the biggest surprise on Fade to Bluegrass is reserved for “One”, the seminal song from …And Justice For All that was inspired by Dalton Trumbo’s harrowing book Johnny Got His Gun.

To the casual listener, it may seem like lunacy to take Metallica’s music and rearrange it for bluegrass band, but a close examination of the Bay Area thrashers’ career shows a definite streak of Nashville running through their music. Metallica have:

• Written redneck anthems (“Don’t Tread On Me”) that would make Toby Keith proud.
• Singer James Hetfield appeared on a Waylon Jennings tribute. (He recorded “Don’t You Think This Outlaw Thing Has Done Got Out of Hand”).
• Steel guitar and hurdy-gurdy were used on songs on the Load and Re-Load albums. (“Mama Said” and “Low Man’s Lyric”, respectively.)
• The band has regularly opened shows with music by Ennio Morricone: the “Ecstasy of Gold” from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

Metallica are not alone in crossing the Nashville border. The guys in Texas-based Pantera once cut an album under the name Rebel Meets Rebel with David Allen Coe on vocals. And southern metal acts like Corrosion of Conformity have incorporated elements of country and southern rock into their high-speed songs.

All four members of the Horse are singers, and that allows for close, tuneful harmonies in songs like "Wherever I May Roam" and "Hero of the Day". Older Metallica material is not overlooked, as they strum through "Ride the Lightning" and (naturally) "The Four Horsemen.”

This 2003 release was the beginning of big things for the Horse. It was followed up with a second volume of Metallica covers, tributes to Black Sabbath and Guns N' Roses, and albums of original material.