10 Best Rock Covers Of 2020
2. Mastodon - Orion
Some say that a metal list isn’t complete without a mention of Metallica so just to be sure, they’ve cropped up twice in this one. Having been mentioned earlier thanks to The HU, Metallica re-appear here due to Mastodon’s cover of the (comparatively) lesser known, ‘Orion’.
‘Orion’ was originally released by Metallica in 1986 and featured as a regular album track on their legendary record, ‘Master of Puppets’. Thanks to iconic thrash metal songs such as ‘Damage, Inc’ and the title-track, ‘Master of Puppets’ is now regarded as one of the most essential metal albums ever made.
With that being said, Mastodon had a lot of pressure on them to nail this cover version. Thankfully, they did just that as they executed every note of this 9-minute behemoth to perfection. Covering this less commercially acknowledged Metallica song gave Mastodon the chance to explore not only Metallica’s back catalogue, but to explore their own abilities also.