10 Metal Bands That Went Acoustic

When metal was just starting to find its feet, Judas Priest was normally the first place that people went for pure heavy metal grandeur. As far as the genesis of metal was concerned, this was the moment where we moved out of the blues territory and into something much more aggressive and energetic. So when Priest finally decided to go with a cover, the first person that they go with is Joan Baez?

Yeah, as a deep cut from their early album Sin After Sin, the Priest managed to pull a switch up on us by toning things down with a cover of Baez's Diamonds and Rust, which probably made about as much sense as Black Sabbath covering a Frankie Avalon song at the time. It's not like the similarities were too different though, considering Baez's role as one of the voices of her generation appealed to Priest's more chaotic tendencies.

Stripping it down to KK Downing and Glenn TIpton on acoustics, this is more of a showcase for Rob Halford's voice than anything else, showing that he had a lot more versatility going for him than just the average screams that could shatter your windows. As much as this priesthood might have been strict about their moral code, this is the kind of tender offering that has the capacity to lure in the nonbelievers.