Metal Mixtape: Raining Blood
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Added 14.07.07 – Reggie & The Full Effect cover of “Raining Blood”
“Raining Blood” is one of my top three metal tunes of all time. Despite the fact the opening tom patterns always fool me, and I can’t ever figure out exactly when the guitars come in – when they do, it’s air guitar central. That riff is practically classical music, it’s so evil and majestic. Evidently, many musicians agree, as “Raining Blood” is one of the most oft-covered metal songs ever. I’ve tracked down every single studio cover I could find and made them all available in a single .zip file (woohoo! An hour of “Raining Blood”!). You can also stream audio and read about each individual cover below.
DOWNLOAD: Metal Mixtape – Raining Blood [74.8MB .zip]
1. Concord Dawn – Raining Blood
New Zealand drum ‘n’ bass duo Concord Dawn has a metalhead in its ranks, with this track a blatant testament to that fact. The intro is so long (isn’t the melody like “Sunglasses at Night”?) because it’s meant to be mixed with another record. With its downward slide, the Slayer riff sounds replayed rather than sampled. The track disintegrates into an unrelated Middle Eastern melody and a pointless guitar solo – but the DJ hopefully would have mixed out by then.
Painting by numbers, but not bad.
3. Electrocutionerdz – Raining Blood
“MIDI-core” act from Quebec (with occasional connections to Fuck the Facts’ Mel Mongeon) cooks up a cute cover with awful vocals and a hilarious sample at the end. The band’s entire discography of over 150 songs is available for free download at its website.
Perhaps the most interesting version here – Erik Hinds covered the entire Reign in Blood album on a custom 18-stringed instrument called a “H’arpeggione.” He transforms the riff into a Middle Eastern motif, then conjures up glassy scratching noises.
5. Lil Jon – Stop Fuckin Wit Me
Um, yeah. Or, rather, YEEEEEEAAAAAHHHH! A lift from “Mandatory Suicide” leads to a wild, 808-fueled deconstruction. Evidently, Lil Jon wanted to make a black version of Suicidal Tendencies’ “Institutionalized”(!) Dig those noisy, techno-esque ride cymbals.
6. Malevolent Creation – Raining Blood
The metal covers here are by far the most boring, though this one is OK. They changed one note in the riff – look out!
Extremely strange, one-sided bootleg vinyl from Amon Tobin under a pseudonym. I’m a huge fan of his, but this is easily the shittiest thing he’s ever done. First, there’s an inexplicably long ambient intro that lasts 1:40. Then the track erupts into a breakcore mess of Amens and samples from “Angel of Death” and “Raining Blood.” The EQing is terrible; Tobin is so taking the piss here.
8. Reggie & The Full Effect – Raining Blood
Emo-poppers turn in a twee, keyboard-driven version of the tune.
9. Serpentor – Lloviendo Sangre
Argentinian thrashers Serpentor recast “Raining Blood” with Spanish lyrics, which sound that much more evil.
10. Terrorfakt – Raining Blood Remix
A lazy gabber remix that sticks the riff over a distorted kick drum.
My favorite cover of “Raining Blood” – Amos transforms the song into a haunting, piano-driven, slooooow crawl. This would be the perfect soundtrack for candlelit, sobbing, semi-traumatic sex.
12. Transformer di Roboter – Raining Blood
Ugh. Electrocrap version with horrible digital distortion and a shredded-up arrangement. A waste of bandwidth.
The best metal cover here. No surprises, no bullshit. Vader slays.
14. Warlord UK – Raining Blood
Ill-starred British death metal band went one album and out, but left this sturdy cover of “Raining Blood.” It takes a while to get going, but it eventually achieves liftoff.
