Volbeat Reveal Metallica ‘Blacklist’ Cover of ‘Don’t Tread on Me’
Volbeat have joined the "blacklist." The hard rocking Danish outfit are among the musicians from across all genres paying tribute to Metallica's legendary self-titled "Black" album, providing their own cover of "Don't Tread on Me" for the highly anticipated Metallica Blacklist collection.
The band also just dropped a new Aaron Hymes-directed video for their cover featuring a military vehicle speeding across a terrain of scattered destruction along the way. Have a look at the clip in full below.
The Metallica Blacklist features over 50 artists from a variety of genres covering songs from Metallica's Black Album in celebration of the monster album's 30th anniversary. In addition to Volbeat's "Don't Tread on Me" cover, a dance-leaning mashup of "Don't Tread on Me" with "Nothing Else Matters" from SebastiAn has arrived today.
The collection also comes with a charitable component as each of the artists are allowed to direct their proceeds from sales to a charity of their choosing along with Metallica's All Within My Hands charitable foundation. For Volbeat, that charitable designation will aid the Børne Cancer Fonden in Denmark.
Volbeat singer Michael Poulsen says about the band's choice of cover, “We didn’t want to touch any of the big hits on that album, which is quite difficult because they’re all hits, somehow. We were trying to pick a song that you don’t hear as much from that album, and the most important thing was to pick a song where we could transform it into a Volbeat song. 'Don’t Tread on Me' definitely had a swing that I could turn into a Volbeat swing, and it turned out really great.”
If you like the Volbeat cover, it's available at this location. You can also pick up the Metallica Blacklist collection on digital and streaming services Sept. 10 and physically on vinyl and CD Oct. 1 at this location.
The Volbeat cover coincides with Metallica's own pre-production rehearsal recording of "Don't Tread on Me" that also was issued today, giving fans a listen to the song in its earliest stages. Metallica have also recently shared a live "Wherever I May Roam," a rough mix of "The Unforgiven," an alternate "Sad But True" and a rehearsal of "Holier Than Thou" as further excerpts from the expanded parent album.
A Metallica black-and-white photo book arrives in October. Jigsaw puzzles for Metallica's three latest studio albums also come out this fall. Metallica and many of their metal contemporaries are currently leading a rock and metal surge in album sales.
In other Volbeat news, the band recently announced a short U.S. headline tour scheduled for late September and early October. The run includes a number of festival appearances as well as select dates with The Hu, Twin Temple and Municipal Waste. The group has also recently shared the new songs "Wait a Minute My Girl" and “Dagen Før.”