“Fade to Black” is Metallica’s first ever ballad. Though never released as a single, it is now a Top 10 song for the band in terms of streams. As their first ever ballad, it set the template for their later, more accessible sound. Even though it’s more accessible for a Metallica song of its vintage, it’s still a little bit of an odd cover for a jangle pop band.
The Tubs are a Welsh jangle pop band featuring former members of noise pop group Joanna Gruesome. And yes, they’ve decided to cover Metallica. But it’s not a straight jangle pop cover of “Fade to Black.” That would be weirder.
Though the intro to The Tubs’ cover is pretty clearly “Fade to Black” by Metallica, the most obvious change is the tempo, which is just faster; it almost sounds like the original sped up by 1.25 or something, how some people listen to podcasts. But then the drums kick in and it’s obviously not the original sped up.
Lead singer Owen Williams sings the lyrics about suicide with an odd sweetness and a slight Welsh lilt. It’s a far cry from James Hetfield’s original and very rough vocal, where it’s clear Hetfield hadn’t really learned how to sing ballads yet. An organ joins the many different acoustic and electric guitars, creating a jangly wall of sound, certainly much more jangly than Metallica.
The Tubs do finally introduce distortion when they get to the famous concluding section. But not only do they continue to play it fast, they also swing it a bit. Williams sort of shouts the lyrics but without any kind of metal growl and the distortion is only on one guitar, while the other guitars continue to jangle.
This cover is significantly shorter than the original and doesn’t feature any guitar pyrotechnics. But they do find an interesting balance between relative faithfulness to the original and an unmistakable change in the overall mien. Check it out:
