The Atlas Moth

Possibly the best metal in-joke of the year, the Atlas Moth offer their version of Metallica's $5.98 E.P.: Garage Days Re-Revisited, ripping off the album art and pasting their ugly mugs over Hetfield and crew's. Spawned from endless days and nights on the road listening to FM radio, these Chicago, IL sludge-meisters put their indelible stamp on four rock classics. As the last surviving member of the Mamas & the Papas, Michelle Phillips would surely find this cover of mega-hit "California Dreamin'" utterly frightening, as the high-pitched shrieks of guitarists David Kush and Stavros Giannopoulos (the latter is also in black metal group Twilight) send children and small animals scurrying for cover. Doors creeper "Five to One" gets a similar treatment, but the vocals become tamer on their exceptional cover of Pink Floyd's "Fearless," which manages to capture that spacey vibe of early Floyd psychedelia. But the finest moment comes with an unlikely version of "Golden," from underappreciated '90s alt-rock geniuses Failure. Cave In are the only other band to exceed expectations on a Failure cover and the Atlas Moth go above and beyond with clean vocals while keeping intact the original tonal quality and atmosphere. The Atlas Moth certainly leave their mark on classic rock with this digital-only EP while showing that metal shouldn't always be taken seriously.