At the Progressive Subway, we love a good cover track. Hearing an artist give their take on a track from another band that they love is a great experience: It gives you some insight into what your favourite artists listen to in their free time, and how they approach making it their own.
There are a lot of great covers in the mainstream of progressive music that we could point to, Opeth‘s grungy “Circle of The Tyrants“, Mastodon‘s poignant “Stairway to Heaven“. Our writers have been searching for unique and interesting covers from smaller progressive bands to check-out.
Christopher
Selections: Cheeto’s Magazine, Omnerod, Novena, Che Aimee Dorval, Mile Marker Zero
I love a cover that takes a song and goes somewhere weird and wild with it. To that effect, my first pick is Spain’s nutty prog rock professors Cheeto’s Magazine and their off-the-wall take on “Basket Case” by Green Day. Zany synths, wacky vocals and noodling lead licks jostle together like oversugared children in a bouncy castle after an ill-advised cocktail of junk food, infusing the punk classic with cartoonish jazz flavours better suited to a drug-inspired children’s breakfast television show.
You want heavier? I’ll give you heavier: Omnerod’s brutal take on the experimental electronica track “You Make Me Feel” by Archive. This Belgian ensemble faithfully emulate the melodies and sensibility of the original, an eerie and noisy love song, but make it a thousand tons heftier, with agonised harshes, dissonant riffs, and crazed sax licks courtesy of the ever-brilliant Jørgen Munkeby.
When Ross Jennings isn’t focused on Haken or releasing solo albums, he’s fronting the deeply underrated Novena, who brought us a brilliant cover of Billie Eilish’s “Bury A Friend”. It’s actually Gareth Mason who takes on lead vocal duties on this one, and despite fronting the brutal Slice the Cake he manages to maintain the gentle sensuality of the original. Starting off faithful to Eilish’s vision, Novena slowly layer on the heavier prog elements, including some nasty piano scrapes and melodic guitar harmonies.
The Yuletide season isn’t too far away now and so I thought I’d prepare you for the season of uninspired music with some prog Christmas covers. Connecticut neo-proggers Mile Marker Zero have released two Christmas covers in the style of other bands. And so I present to you their take on “Most Wonderful Time of the Year” in the style of Watershed-era Opeth—which you know is going to be a sublimely observed pastiche from the moment the singer gives an eerie Akerfeldtian diminishment to the very first vocal line—AND a Genesis inspired version of “Winter Wonderland”, which ably captures the sound of those icons.
Finally, longtime Devin Townsend collaborator Ché Aimee Dorval constitutes an inversion on the formula, having taken a couple of prog staples and converted them to her own bluesy/folky vibe. She took The Mars Volta’s “The Widow” gave it an agonised blues rock twang, and intensified its emotional weight by dint of her absolutely jaw-dropping singing. She also transformed Strapping Young Lad’s intense rager “Almost Again” into a jaunty folk bop (which unfortunately isn’t on Spotify, but it is on YouTube).
Mathis
Selections: Imaginary Flying Machines, NinDjent0, Aliases, Cheeto’s Magazine, Kyros
Originality is something I take very seriously, so you may expect I’m not fond of covers. The fact is there are amazing artists in this world that can honor an original artwork while simultaneously adding their own unique flair. People like this walk a fine line effortlessly, blessing listeners with nostalgia and new experiences in one package. Screw all the fancy talk, I just love when my favorite artists appeal to my nerdy side with covers from anime and videogames!
Studio Ghibli is known primarily for their exceptional animation and art style, but fans across the world will instantly recognize the tune to “My Neighbor Totoro”. A great tune and a great film no doubt, but Ponyo is my cup of tea, and Imaginary Flying Machines (with the help of Destrage) have the most colorfully heavy cover of “Ponyo On The Cliff”. I have to play this track at least three times in a row, my brain becomes addicted and just one hit of this cheerfully chaotic song isn’t enough to satisfy.
Sometimes my emotions get the best of me, and the Imaginary Flying Machines covers don’t hit me in my feels like I need. Every now and then I have to embrace my less fun emotions and lament with the proper soundtrack. In times like these I listen to “Aquatic Ambience” from Donkey Kong Country, and if I’m feeling that strange angry sadness then NinDjent0 has my back with their cover of “Aquatic Ambience” as I headbang the tears flow from my eyes, flying to ceiling, then to the floor, then the ceiling again. A vicious cycle that repeats until the song ends.
Sebastian
Selections: Contrarian
Honestly, this is overall a pretty tough playlist to make additions to; both because of the fact that a lot of the covers bands do are only in demos and unpublished YouTube videos and whatnot, but also because there really are just not many prog metal cover songs out there. But I did find one: Contrarian‘s cover of Death‘s “Nothing is Everything”. This cover shows what Death might have sounded like had they been an underground tech death band in the 2000s. With deeper guttural growls relative to Chuck’s mid-range harshes, nasty pinch harmonics, and of course, the hypnotic riff melody that went with late-era Death.
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