UMUR
"Graveyard Classics 2" is the 7th full-length studio album by US, Florida based death metal act Six Feet Under. The album was released through Metal Blade Records in October 2004. It´s the successor to "Bringer of Blood" from 2003. Six Feet Under released the "Graveyard Classics" album in 2000, which featured covers of classic heavy metal and hard rock tracks by artists like AC/DC, Deep Purple, Jimi Hendrix, Dead Kennedys, and Venom. "Graveyard Classics 2" is as the title suggests the second installment in the series, but this time around, Six Feet Under have not chosen to cover tracks by various artists, but have instead opted to cover AC/DC's "Back in Black (1980)" album in its entirety.
Wether that is a good or a bad idea is probably very much up to the ears that hear, but it´s definitely (at least) interesting to hear the classic tracks featuring death metal growls. There´s nothing wrong with the musical skills or the execution of the material (the instrumental performances are relatively true to the original material), but personally I think the novelty effect wears off after a couple of tracks. Some tracks work better than others, with especially the more melodic tracks like "You Shook Me All Night Long" and "Let Me Put My Love Into You" being the low points of the album, while more potent hard rockers like "Shoot to Thrill" and "Shake a Leg" actually work pretty well.
Upon conclusion "Graveyard Classics 2" is a decent experiment but it´s not an album I´ll listen to very often. I´ll take the original any day over this death metal cover version. It had probably been a childhood dream for Barnes to record this album, but sometimes dreams are better not fullfilled. "Graveyard Classics 2" may not be Six Feet Under´s best release, but at least the idea behind it was honest and for the love of the original. It does feature both fine musicianship and a quality production job too, so while this is not a personal favorite a 3 star (60%) rating is still warranted.