Released by: Nuclear Blast

Genre: Metal

Release date: 12 August 2016

Line up:

A Myriad of metals best players and guest vocalists

Tracklist:

1. Iron Fist

2. Suffragette City

3. Life In the Fast Lane

As the name of this EP suggests “Fallen Heroes” is a tribute to some of Rock and metal’s recently departed icons. I’m not usually one for cover albums but this one comprising solely of three of them peaked my interest.

The EP opens with Troy Sanders (Mastodon) contributing guest vocals to a cover of Motorhead’s “Iron Fist”. You would be hard pressed to tell that this was not the late, great Lemmy Kilmister on vocals, as this cover is exactly what it says on the tin. Channelling the spirit of Lemmy, Troy pulls off an almost perfect impersonation of Lemmy’s vocals. With guitarist Alex Skolnick and drummer Mike Portnoy also in the mix, this is a true cover of the Motorhead classic, with little, or indeed none, of their own twist on it.

Bowie’s “Suffragette City” is up next. With vocals supplied by Death Angel’s Mark Osegueda, this is a more up tempo cover of the original. Mark’s vocals fit nicely into this rocked up version, and with Mike Portnoy’s clean drumming coming through clearly in the mix, this is a foot tapping number.

The EP closes with The Eagles “Life In The Fast Lane”. Honouring the passing of Glenn Frey, this rendition with vocals from Alissa White-Gluz (Arch Enemy) sounds very unlike the original. Again, like “Suffragette City”, Metal Allegiance have noticeably up’d the tempo on this cover turning it from classic rock to hard rock. Alissa’s vocals bring an almost country vibe to this track, but with plenty of sass which happily keeps it within the Rock genre. Again I was foot tapping along to this track which, like a good cover song should, put its own spin on an original.

Overall this isn’t a bad EP. If like me you are a bit dubious about covers, this one is an easy listen, with “Suffragette City” and “Life In The Fast Lane” giving good versions of classics. “Iron Fist” is good, if you like your covers to be a clone of the original. There is nothing wrong with it musically and is a good addition to any cover playlist, but in my opinion it just needs something extra to allow it to stand out from the crowd.