Fight fire with pianoforte

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Recently I revisited Ride the Lightning. This is always a bad idea, because it inevitably leads to hand-wringing about “how metal will never be this good again”.

Then I found this video, which cheered me up considerably.

It’s of Vika (aka Viktoriya Yermolyeva), a Ukrainian pianist, covering Metallica’s “Fight Fire With Fire”. Decibel did a good interview with her here. She said “Da svidaniya” to classical music, and said [hello in Russian] to covering literally any song that fans choose, provided that they pay up. She has covered Immolation, Carcass, Slayer, and loads of nu-metal (?!). Personally, I’d like to see her cover something ridiculous like Psyopus or Brain Drill.

Usually the charm of such covers is diminution: “Hear this big metal song on a little piano!” But Vika’s “Fight Fire With Fire” is heavy. She really rips into that rhythm guitar part. I don’t think she’s just doing it for the money.

The best song covers cast a new light on their originals. So it is with Vika’s “Fight Fire With Fire”, which left me with two takeaways:

1. James Hetfield could really sing.

Vika is playing Hetfield’s vocal line with her right hand. It’s really, really cool. Try thinking of something else to sing over those riffs. They don’t outline any typical chord progression. Hetfield’s vocal melody is weird, but it absolutely works. How many other thrash singers had melodies so compelling that they could translate to other instruments?

2. Metallica had some bitchin’ compositions.

I’m talking symphony orchestra-grade (but not S&M). They had big melodies, big harmonies, big themes, and big scope. That harmony at 3:09 gives me goosebumps every time I hear it. Maybe someday symphonies will realize Metallica’s genius and play their compositions at inflated prices for nostalgic geriatrics. Oh, wait…