I’ve probably said this before but I’ll say it again: Cover albums are a tricky thing to master. As an artist, you want to honor those that came before while putting your own stamp while also not being too close to the original to make it all pointless while also not sounding like a parody. Make sense? Okay, then!
Garber Days Revisited by Virginia’s Inter Arma is easily a record that successfully hits all those previously mentioned points and personally, a band that choses to not only tackle one, but TWO, Industrial behemoths at their respective creative heights (Ministry in ’92, Nine Inch Nails in ’94) AND Prince is a band that you need to pay attention to.
But I digress.
A monolithic Industrial banger in its’ own right, some might argue that “Scarecrow” is perfect as is but Inter Arma’s take on the Psalm 69 staple by Ministry elevates the almost 30 year old (Fuck, really???) track by stripping it bare and accenting the tribal, the visceral, and the overall rawness (T.J. Childers’ drumming and Andrew Lacour’s bass drone especially add to the vibe here) to make an even more menacing version. Similarly, their take on NIN’s “March Of The Pigs” is flat out brutal when pared down to the basics.
“Southern Man”, originally by Neil Young, is haunting and heavy as fuck here…just like Young probably originally envisioned it. Probably. Right??? With echoes of Baroness (Well, until the screaming begins at least) to kick it all off, the song quickly devolves into a manic nightmare with Mike Paparo’s fierce vocal delivery leading the ferocious charge.
Cro-Mags get a raucous update of their classic “Hard Times” and is pretty straight forward here as is Tom Petty’s “Runnin’ Down A Dream” which shocks and awes in particular because of just how close this is to the original replete with clean vocals.
And Husker Du! Who knew that a blast beat-infused (Courtesy of Childers), Black Metal “The Girl Who Lives On Heaven Hill” needed to exist in our lifetime? Because it does! And it’s pretty frelling epic. Top it all off with a glistening tribute to Prince and a crushing “Purple Rain” to close it all off which is beautifully epic with screaming guitars from Steven Russell and Trey Dalton singing as if they were being plucked by the master himself and you have yourselves one helluva perfect covers collection, friends!
Garbers Days Revisited lands via Relapse Records on July 10th and you can pre-order yours now by clicking here, here, or on the stream below. For more on Inter Arma, hit their socials across the interwebs by clicking here, here, or here.