10 Perfect Rock Songs Cut From Classic Albums

Even when thrash metal was starting to come into its own, Metallica were never known as the most original band in the world. They may have blossomed into one of the kings of the new wave of American heavy metal, but they were just a bunch of snot nosed kids in the beginning, more than willing to ride the coattails of their favorite bands like Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. For Lars Ulrich though, it always comes back to Diamond Head, and their version of Am I Evil? May just be able to eclipse the original.

Though the original Diamond Head version is definitely a meaty piece of classic ‘80s metal, Metallica’s version released as a B-side is a much heavier version of the tune. While there is a certain amount of weight to the original, James Hetfield delivers this song like an absolute bulldog, sounding like it’s taking place as you're going down the path to Hell as you’re listening to it.

Even though the band liked to focus on primarily original material around this time, there’s a good chance this version of the song beats out a handful of the originals they were working on, sticking around long enough to be included on the bonus track edition of the collection of covers Garage Inc. The ‘80s era of Metallica may constitute one of the more perfect runs of albums by a metal band, but if this cover swapped places with Escape on Ride the Lightning, we might be looking at an album that is on par with Master of Puppets.