The third installment in a thrilling saga of cover EPs that Halestorm have produced is enough to set 2017 off with a bang. ReAniMate 3.0 showcases, yet again, that Halestorm can turn any song into their own. From Twenty One Pilots to Joan Jett to Metallica, this new EP flings old classics and new pop hits right in your face and with Lzzy Hale’s rocketing vocals at the helm, any song can sound like something they threw together themselves.
Something along the same wavelengths of their own music, Whitesnake’s ‘Still Of The Night’, which had been cut down from the original six minutes plus track, to become a more updated song, starts with a howling Hale and continues to make the vocals the pin point in a series of start-stop instrumentals. ‘Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover’ originally by Sophie B. Hawkins houses Hale’s soft yet gritty vocals leaving the delivery slightly more melodic than the original. However it’s Joan Jett’s ‘I Hate Myself For Loving You’ that fits like a glass slipper on Halestorm’s sound. From Arejay Hale’s slick yet wild drumming style, to the guitar collective team of Joe Hottinger and Hale herself, this is a track you can just see fitting right into their live set easily.
There’s always a current pop track on each ReAniMate EP. In the past we’ve had pleasure of Lady Gaga’s ‘Bad Romance’ and Daft Punk’s ‘Get Lucky’, this time around Twenty One Pilots’ ‘Heathens’ gets a heavy make over. Gone are the high pitched backing tones and in comes some bum notes and guitar static to still grab the obscure undertones of the track. It’s not until the back end of the track that Hale fully lets her voice go and it ain’t something you could possibly be mad about.
Soundgarden’s ‘Fell On Black Days’ holds a more upbeat groove than the original, still just as dreary but with a little bit more gusto and last but not least, Metallica’s ‘Ride The Lightening’ unpeels Lzzy’s most powerful vocals across this whole EP – covering Metallica doesn’t leave much room for change. Metallica are Metallica and it would be a pretty huge feat to turn a track like this into a ballad.
Yet again Halestorm give the fans something to chew on whilst they wait for a new album to drop, and as long as they sound this good then keep them coming.
