Peaceville x

In an interview dedicated to the release of the compilation, Hammy (head of Peaceville Records) said that "he always wanted to expand the scope and do something a little different." In his opinion, if they began to make another album of covers on Black Sabbath or Slayer , then it would look childish and would create the impression that they want to cash in through their sleeves. Songs for covers were the choice of the bands themselves, Hammy himself claims that they only said "Not metal, please!"

Hammy explained his reluctance to cover metal songs for this collection with his reluctance to focus on his own "scene": "It is useful to learn to look beyond the boundaries of your own little world, otherwise you can skip something surprising only because it is" not cool "inside the market niche" ^{[ 2]} .

Anathema

The British group Anathema has chosen three things where drums are not so important (One Of The Few and Goodbye Cruel World by Pink Floyd and Better Off Dead by Bad Religion), because during the preparation of the material for the collection (June 1996), drummer John Douglas left the band, who had serious problems with drugs, but had not yet been able to find a new drummer ^[3] . Nevertheless, for compilation, the group recorded three tracks instead of the promised two, where they were again helped by Michelle Richfield from the British group Domnion (previously participating in the recording of their album Eternity ) ^[4] .

These songs were subsequently released as additional songs (the so-called “bonus tracks”) at the 2004 re-release of Alternative 4 , released by Peaceville Records.

My Dying Bride

Also, the British group My Dying Bride recorded two covers for this collection (both songs were subsequently reissued on the second disc of the Meisterwerk collection). In a 2005 interview with MDB Hamish Glencross, referring to these covers, he said: “Do not expect more covers from us in the future - we prefer to focus on our own new material. Cover versions are good when they are made as a complete interpretation of the original, rather than a simple copy. So if I would choose a song for a cover, it would most likely become Richard Thompson's “Woods of Darney”, since from my point of view this song is the embodiment of sorrow and tragedy ” ^[5] .

Thine

Immediately after signing a contract with the young band Thine, the label offered to participate in a tribute album. The band has already played a cover of The Moody Blues and the song "Desease" by GGFH . In addition, the group wanted to go against the trend and make a “reverse” cover, that is, a non-metal version of the metal song. It was about a psychedelic version of the Slayer band's Dead Skin Mask song, but there wasn’t any possibility of doing it. Then a sudden decision was made to cover Nick Cave's song with his shortly before the released album Murder Ballads , which was a resounding success and whose fans have been Thine members since the end of 1997.

The song was recorded in the second half of 1997 again at the Academy studio with the participation of Keith, who, in addition to the general contribution to the process, also played keyboard parts (which makes up a significant share of the song) ^[6] .

For the group, this was the first studio recording under the direction of the label (before that they had only two demos).

1. “One of the Few” - Anathema ( Pink Floyd cover)
2. “Shout” - Dominion (cover for Tears for Fears )
3. “ Some Velvet Morning ” - My Dying Bride (cover by Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood )
4. Roads - My Dying Bride ( Portishead Cover)
5. “Better off Dead” - Anathema (cover of Bad Religion )
6. “Song of Joy” - Thine (cover of Nick Cave )
7. “The Girl Who Lives on Heaven Hill” - Blackstar (cover on Hüsker Dü )
8. “O Baby” - Acrimony (cover of Status Quo )
9. Crazy Horses - The Blood Divine (cover of The Osmonds )
10. “ Love Will Tear Us Apart ” - The Blood Divine (cover by Joy Division )
11. “Paint It Black” - Dominion (cover of The Rolling Stones )
12. "Running Back" - Blackstar (cover by Thin Lizzy )
13. “Don't Let Me Down” - LID (cover of The Beatles )
14. “Goodbye Cruel World” - Anathema (cover of Pink Floyd)

Pedro Azevedo, in his review of the Chronicles of Chaos website, noted that “despite the fact that the choice of songs was limited only by non-metal, which in some way narrows the style (or what replaces it) of the groups, the result is still interesting, at least not for long (which, however, is very characteristic of all collections in general) ” ^[7] .

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