10 Most Underrated Cover Songs In Hard Rock
5. When The Levee Breaks - A Perfect Circle
"When the Levee Breaks" has been an integral part of hard rock culture thanks to Led Zeppelin. When the British rockers first performed the tune on their untitled 4th record, they took the blues standard to a completely different level with pummeling drums and some of the most impassioned screams from Robert Plant. It had already been a classic, but the fate of this tune got even more legendary at the turn of the century.
When putting together their politically charged covers album Emotive, A Perfect Circle included a much more terrifying take on this track. Instead of the feeling of a backwater slamfest like Zeppelin's, the cold and calculated instrumentation behind this one makes the tune feel all the more sinister. The vocals of Maynard James Keenan float above the rest of the track as you start sinking into the deepest throes of dread.
Where the original song talked about the destruction of a town as a result of a flood, this take on the track feels like the coming of Armageddon, with the more digital aspects draping the entire track in an atonal haze. Zeppelin's take may be the more classic version of the tune, but what A Perfect Circle ended up doing with it put this sad lament into a completely different context.