One of those collectors' thingys, this. Two bands covering and tributing two of their German loves. Hello Heidi, hello Helga?! No... No, this love letter goes to Running Wild and Sodom.

Nunslaughter from the United States of America go first with their tribute to Running Wild. The selection is 'Preacher', the song from RW's 1984 debut album 'Gates to Purgatory', which is blackened speed metal/heavy metal affair. The original one is slow-ish fist-pumper (in any way you might like it to be...), and so is the cover. The guitar is more shrilling, the vocals barking, but otherwise it is very close to the original. Nunslaughter's black/thrash sound fits well here, somehow pointing out RW's Mercyful Fate influence in even stronger manner. Nifty, evil and nipple-hardening!

Swedish death metal stalwarts, already at this point, Centinex, chose Sodom's 'Enchanted Land' from thrashy 'Persecution Mania' (1987). If one thinks that the song isn't really Centinex's cup of tea, please listen to the cover and find yourself totally wrong. Swedish death metal sound is here, but not in its most distorted 'n' heavy, but thankfully the band had found a flesh 'n' blood drummer! However, it loses a bit in its intensity level when compared to the original album performance. The guitar is fucking crunchy, the vocals are distorted shouting, the rhythm section is booming. Hefty, steamrolling and nipple-biting!

Short but sweet, this offers a good pairing of songs; slow-ish evil heavy metal and mad death-thrashing piece. Is this a must? Well, it's a fucking cool item in any form, no bloody doubt about that! As mentioned, this is one for collectors. 7" vinyl (Hells Headbangers Records) has cool cover artwork, the 10" picture vinyl (Painkiller Records) looks less good. If you do not enjoy Sodom or Running Wild, you should perhaps swap to 1980s pop music, and start growing sauerkraut (eat that for a decade and find out the brilliance of German metall musik that way).

Rating: 7 (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
09/28/2020 20:12