Having announced the forthcoming release of their appropriately heavy-weight 53-artist ‘Black Album’ tribute set The Metallica Blacklist, San Franciscan metal monsters Metallica been drip-feeding tracks from the album in order to drum up pre-publicity for the collection. And no sooner had they released St. Vincent and Sam Fender’s versions of Sad But True into the wild yesterday (June 29) - the former a dark slice of electro-pop, the latter a stripped back piano-led ballad - than a third take on the second track from the quartet’s 1991 blockbuster has been shared, this one a gritty, muscular country-rock rave-up performed by Green Hill, Alabama singer/songwriter Jason Isbell.
Whether or not you’re a fan of James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich’s band, it’s undeniably interesting to see what spins each artist puts on the source material, and how far apart each version stands apart from the others.
By way of comparison, here’s what Annie Clarke aka St. Vincent did with the same song.
There’s another Sad But True cover incoming, this one from Lars Ulrich’s riff-rock pals Royal Blood. The Metallica Blacklist album will also feature Ghost and Weezer (separately) covering Enter Sandman, Biffy Clyro covering Holier Than Thou and Idles covering The God That Failed.
All profits from The Metallica Blacklist will be split evenly between Metallica’s All Within My Hands Foundation and 50+ charities chosen by the artists who play on the album.
