Classic Covers: Vader – I Feel You

[avatar user=”Sean” size=”50″ align=”left” /]It’s one awesome interview/gig after another for me these days with Moshville! Tomorrow (19/03/2015) Polish

Vader - Future of the Past album cover 192death metal legends Vader are coming to Glasgow town so naturally I’m getting into the raging Polski extreme metal spirit.

However I remember many moons ago I discovered this one enigma in Vader’s discography. After a myriad of demo EPs (soon to be re-released and are currently being promoted on this tour) culminating in Morbid Reich which eventually got the band signed, and two albums (including the awesome debut The Ultimate Incantation – expect a Golden Oldie review soon!), Vader surprisingly released a covers album.

1996’s Future of the Past predominantly features covers of aggressive thrash, death and punk covers from some of my favourite bands (including Sodom, Possessed and Kreator) however it also includes a cover of Depeche Mode’s 1993 hit “I Feel You” from the Songs of Faith and Devotion album. Now this song really caught my ears as I do quite enjoy a bit of Depeche Mode myself from time to time. Following their massive success with 1990’s Violator (including the hit song “Enjoy the Silence”), Depeche Mode took a darker tone from the cheesier synth pop they were more known for in the early 80’s (you surely know hits like “Just Can’t Get Enough”?). The band started including guitars and dark synth/sample atmospheres and in Vader’s hands, “I Feel You” is transformed into a dark and atmospheric slice of swaggering bluesy heavy metal which sounds completely original and unique to my ears.

The main riffs of the song lend themselves really well to a more distorted and hi-gain guitar tone and the double bass drumming works really well in Vader’s context. What really makes the song is the use of synths backing up the guitar power chords in the bridge and especially frontman Piotr Wiwczarek’s eerie low vocals which are more whispered as opposed to his trademark roar – all adding to a dark atmosphere akin to the original but simply more metal.

Considering Vader’s reputation for all things heavy, especially on albums like Litany and the latest release from last year Tibi et Igni, their cover of Depeche Mode’s “I Feel You” is probably the lightest thing they’ve ever done. I think it could be so much better if it was re-recorded using their more modern tones, however it’s still a great cover song. I like it when bands do cover songs that are pretty different to the music they normally play and for Vader, this cover tune really pays off.

Check it out and see what you think.

[vader]

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