Review of Pro-Pain - Run For Cover

So now we have the 9th studio release of thrash-groove stalwarts Pro-Pain and. . . oh dear god, its all covers, from artists ranging from metal kings Slayer ("South of Heaven"), Motörhead ("Iron Fist"), and Celtic Frost ("Circle of the Tyrants") to hardcore trailblazers Discharge ("Never Again"), Negative Approach ("Nothing"), Black Flag ("Damaged II"), and Agnostic Front ("Your Mistake"), even ska/punk mini-legends Operation Ivy (“The Crowd"). The album also includes a surprise remake from Gary Meskil's former band, The Crumbsuckers ("Just Sit There") and Life of Agony's "Weeds". Together, they make for a grooving collection of metal, hardcore, punk covers through one of its many half-way points: crossover/thrash. Of course, Pro-Pain is like the southern sludge acts, or perhaps Grip Inc., in that they rely almost solely on dirty guitar grooves with distortion out the ass to pound your head into the concrete. Alright, but honest to god, another band doing a whole album full of covers? Christ, this is about as original as a one night stand and 100x less enjoyable. Even the band must know this, because in the liner notes and promo-material they actually went on a rant about how original they thought this was because "Pro-Pain is not a band that is generally known for doing covers". I say to ye: that is a good thing. Covers deserve to be in one place: the live setting. When Iced Earth released Tribute to the Gods, I would have rather them just played “Number of the Beast” live than record it onto a whole album. At least they originally just did it for the Dark Genesis box set, though. This is Pro-Pain just throwing this album out there - why? Can they not come up with anything more original that doing fucking “South of Heaven” for us? Granted, it is one badass thrash tune, but a.) Slayer does it ungodly better, and b.) Seriously, Slayer does it REALLY, REALLY well compared to this. Why? Because it's their fuckin' song, man. Now, a quick overview here: nothing is really terrible, but hell, even the punk covers don't measure up to the originals. Lemmy would need a few drinks if he heard this (but when doesn’t he? –ed). They do make this shit a lot heavier and groovier in their own right, but it all sounds forced, like they just did this to get something out there. I haven't really listened to this a lot because it bores me to death, but I've heard enough that I think Pro-Pain needs to get their asses into the studio and record their own shit. This album just completely lacked imagination or some ass-kicking, blood thirsty, jugular-hunting viciousness. Final words here? Don't buy this unless you really want to hear some of the aforementioned songs done in a COC meets Grip Inc. type style. Cover albums are generally weak, but somehow they make all these songs lose the substance that they once held, turning them into nothing but failed worship. Pro-Pain has put out some pretty good material, but c’mon guys, why the cover album? Have we not heard enough Slayer covers in the last couple years? Good only if you want to relive these songs in a new light, for nostalgic and novelty use only.

Release Details

Pro-Pain

Run For Cover

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