If you read this site regularly, you know my opinion about covers. Nine times outta ten, they blow goats. So often, we hear bands perform a cover that either a) sounds so much like the original that you wonder what was even the point of covering the song, or b) sounds like the original only “heavier,” so that wonder what was even the point of covering the song. When bands fail to put their own spin on the material, all the end up with is an inferior copy of the original.

And apparently Mouth of the Architect agree with me: for their latest EP, The Violence Beneath, they recorded a cover Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes” that keeps the basic melody line of the original and not much else. And the results are… well, this is one of the best covers I’ve heard in ages. I really, really dig it. And y’know what? As much as I like Peter Gabriel, I actually hate this song — not because it’s bad or anything, but just because it’s become such a cliché that I feel like I never really need to hear it again. (I feel the same way about U2′s “With or Without You,” Biggie’s “Hypnotize,” and pretty much anything by Madonna.) So the fact that I like this so much is an even greater testament to the excellent job MotA have done.

Thanks to Noisecreep for bringing this cover to my attention — The Violence Beneath is out now on Translation Loss, but I haven’t heard it. Guess I should get on that!

-AR

It’s bloody amazing how much more accepted intelligent aggressive music has become, doncha think? Of course there are always still the outright pussballz in any audience who start trembling every time a vocalist strays ever so slightly away from straight-up singing into yelling, screaming, or dare I even say *growling* territory (I’m sadly lookin at so many of the GFs out there, mine included)–but it seems like these daze everyone and their mom’s moms–even the grimier-than-thou hipsterati–have caught on to rocking significantly harder than “hard rock”. And so it stands to reason that the smartie-fartie Encyclopedia Browns of the world, on both the musician and fan side of the monitors, are proudly representing brainiac metal with their hearts and (large) minds, even if the music is not always so accessible as a result of dem der smarts.

Take Intronaut, for example — who incidentally have a brand-new album, Prehistoricisms, out TODAY (look for my review later in the week) — in my esteemed opinion one of the most intelligent of the heady metal bands out there nowadays: skilled, fluid players who are comfortable grooving in all sorts of odd time signatures…these guys have been called “the future of metal” by Decibel Magazine (or Revolver, honestly can’t remember, please forgive me) and deservedly so, but really how far can the band’s scope reach with so much bloomin… headiness in tow?

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