Faith No More were one of the most diverse alternative metal bands of the ’90s. Especially on their last two albums before they broke up, they include multiple songs that have nothing to do with metal, recording R&B and gospel songs, other other genres. One of those songs is the country ballad “Take This Bottle” from 1995’s King for a Day…Fool for a Lifetime.
If there’s a country singer who should cover a country song by a metal band, it’s Cody Jinks, who began his career performing in a metal band influenced by ’80s metal. This isn’t one of Faith No More’s better-known songs, so it probably helped that Jinks was familiar with the metal scene of the era. For this cover he’s joined by Meat Loaf’s adopted daughter (and Scott Ian’s wife) Pearl Aday to turn this into a duet.
The cover opens with some prominent guitar and Jinks ups the tempo a little from the get-go. His delivery is a little less theatrical, and perhaps a little more natural, than Mike Patton’s on the original. The words are also a little more intelligible. Aday takes the second verse and changes the perspective so that it fits the duet. They sing together for the chorus. There’s an instrumental break with two guitar solos before they return to the chorus. And there’s nary a synth to be heard.
It’s a faithful cover of the original with a little more authentic country sound behind it. But it feels appropriate that a country artist would finally claim the song as his own. And, given the meaning of the lyrics, a duet also feels very appropriate. Check it out:
