Beatallica
Sgt. Hetfield's Motorbreath Pub Band
6.7
Oh man, wait’ll you hear this Beatallica band–they take old Beatles tunes and redo them like Metallica!
What do you mean “no shit”?
No question, what hurts Beatallica’s first real album is the fact that the cat is way the fuck out of the bag at this point. Anyone who’s interested has heard many of these songs and others over the past several years, while they were all offered free on the band’s website. That makes Sgt. Hetfield’s Motorbreath Pub Band a tough sell, even though it’s a well-deserved chance for Beatallica to get some reward from their good work.
This sixteen song offering gives Beatallica lots of room to do their thing, and the tracklist has a good variety of tempos and split of songs that use both of the band’s approaches. The first of these is the band’s bread and butter--taking Beatles classics and covering them as Metallica might (and really, Metallica playing covers is the best Metallica there is, anymore), sped up with some Metallica riffs and comedic lyrics (title track, “Revol-ooh-tion,” “A Garage Dayz Nite,” “Leper Madonna,” “Ktulu (He’s So Heavy),” “For Horsemen,” “Hey Dude”). Their other trick, which is not quite as listenable but far more creative, is to blend a specific Metallica song, musically and lyrically, with a source Beatles tune (“Sandman,” “Helvester of Skelter,”For Horsemen”). This odd mash up makes for some of the most interesting music on the album, if only because these tracks require a lot more attention.
Generally, the uptempo songs work the best here, and it’s hard to keep a big dumb smile from spreading across your face during songs like “Garage Dayz Night” and “Leper Madonna”. The slow numbers don’t fare as well, with “Anesthesia (I’m Only Sleeping)” and the ponderous “Hey Dude” feeling like filler, although on the other hand “Ktulu (He’s So Heavy)” has a surprising appeal. It’s not always easy to shell out for a novelty album like this one, but it would be a crime to consider these guys nothing more than a metalized Weird Al with a penchant for impressions. The way Beatallica cleverly marry the disparate elements of the Beatles and phase I Metallica shows imagination and creativity, along with obvious respect and admiration for both the Beatles and Metallica. Jaymz Lennfield’s Hetfield impression is hilariously spot on, down to every “oh” and “yah” that transform the end of nearly every lyric into a vowel. All this makes Beatallica well worth a listen, and you’ve gotta give them their due. But your money? A tougher call.
