Following last month’s playlist of ska covers, I’m going to do another playlist of covers – this time in the subgenre of symphonic metal. In my previous symphonic metal playlist, I included a couple of covers, so these are all different songs. You can listen along on Spotify.
- “Summertime Sadness” by Within Temptation. Within Temptation did a whole album of cover versions, called The Q-Music Sessions, and this is a cover of the Lana Del Rey song. It’s at a faster tempo than the original and was later included on their sixth studio album, Hydra. When we saw Within Temptation for the second time, in 2014, they played an acoustic version of this.
- “The Phantom of the Opera” by Nightwish. This a cover of the titular song from the musical, originally performed by Sarah Brightman and Michael Crawford. This was recorded when Tarja Turunen was still Nightwish’s lead vocalist, with Marko Hietala performing the male part.
- “Smalltown Boy” by Delain. Smalltown Boy, originally recorded by Bronski Beat in 1984, is a well-known song about being gay in a small town and wanting to move to a more welcoming city – a common experience for gay men in the 1980s. Delain is another band I’ve seen live more than once, and this was recorded with their original line-up with Charlotte Wessels as the lead vocalist.
- “Enjoy the Silence” by Lacuna Coil. Italian band Lacuna Coil have recorded a few covers in their time, so I could have chosen their cover of REM’s ‘Losing My Religion’. Instead, here’s their cover of Depeche Mode’s ‘Enjoy The Silence’. This is probably my favourite song of theirs.
- “Lay All Your Love On Me” by Amberian Dawn. Amberian Dawn have recorded more than one ABBA cover, so I could have shared “Gimme Gimme Gimme” as well.
- “The Chain” by Evanescence. Considering that Evanescence have been around for well over 20 years now, this is actually one of their more recent recordings and is a Fleetwood Mac cover. However, it only covers the first bit of the song; famously, the second part of the original is used as the theme music for Formula 1 racing.
- “Frozen” by Mortemia. A suggestion by Spotify that came up when I was compiling this playlist. This is a cover of the Madonna song and the first single from her Ray of Light album.
- “Take on Me” by Northern Kings. Northern Kings is a supergroup, made up of, amongst others, the aforementioned Marko Hietala from Nightwish, who recorded two albums of covers. This is a cover of the famous A-Ha song.
- “Total Eclipse of the Heart” by Exit Eden. Whilst Northern Kings are a male supergroup, Exit Eden is a female equivalent who mostly (but not exclusively) record covers, including this one of the Bonnie Tyler classic. I could have chosen ‘Run!’ which also features Marko Hietala, again.
- “Because the Night” by Domina Noctis. Another Spotify suggestion, this is a cover of the Patti Smith original (although I know it better for the earlier Eurodance covers by Jan Wayne and Cascada).