MetalSucks is celebrating the season of the witch with the Munster Mash, a(n almost) weekly spotlight on metal covers of the Munsters theme. During the thrash/crossover era, every band and their moms busted it out at some point, either as a live staple or a hidden track.

This week’s take on the song is “Munster Mosh” by Virüs , pioneers of the ironic umlaut-U. The UK thrash band formed in 1986, split in ’91, and reunited in 2008. The TV-tune cover appeared on the band’s sophomore LP, 1988’s Force Recon, as a hidden track. Lead guitarist Coke McFinlay told MetalSucks how it became the band’s biggest sorta-single.

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MetalSucks is celebrating the season of the witch with the Munster Mash, a weekly spotlight on metal covers of the Munsters theme. During the thrash/crossover era, every band and their moms busted it out at some point, either as a live staple or a hidden track.

This week’s entry, by White Pigs, is one of the earlier versions. The band formed in Connecticut in 1980, and thrashed it up over the next decade. Eventually, they signed to Combat, which released discs by Agnostic Front, the Circle Jerks, Megadeth, and Dark Angel. Learn more about the band at the Punk Vault.

The sound quality is lo-fi punk, topped with squealing metal guitar cheese, all to awesome effect. Click the pic above to listen, or just listen below:

WHITE PIG, “THE MUNSTERS THEME”

here

What’s your favorite moshable Munsters theme? Submit your choice below, send us a note, and maybe it’ll make the spotlight next time.

–Ferris

D.X. Ferris is the author of 33 1/3: Reign in Blood, the first English-language book about Slayer. You can friend it on the Facebook, or follow his bullshit daily on the Tweeters:@dxferris and @SlayerBook. He’s probably watching the Charlie Brown Halloween special right now.

It’s October, and Halloween season is officially here. This week, on the TV front, there’s been talk of rebooting The Munsters series. Again. It seems redundant for any of number reasons, including but not limited to: It’s been done before, and in this era of Hot Topic, you don’t need the Munsters to get a look at some video footage of a goth girl. But anyhow…

The talk of the Munsters relaunch reminded me of the Marshall Act. Passed by a Democrat-dominated Congress in 1987, it required all metal and crossover bands to cover composer Jack Marshall’s Grammy-nominated Munsters theme. Approximately three of every ten working metal crews recorded a cover of it over the next six years.

To commemorate the season of the witch, each week between now and the end of the Samhain, MetalSucks will spotlight one metal version of the Munsters theme. Our inaugural version is by Anacrusis.

The St. Louis also-rans were way ahead of their time. They blended thrash-, melodic-, tech-, and prog metal into a mix that holds up surprisingly well. Bill Metoyer (Slayer, the Accused, DRI) produced the band’s last LP, and Death’s Chuck Schuldiner personally invited the group to support his band. Anacrusis singer-guitarist Kenn Nardi recalled recording their version of the most riffolicious TV tune:

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