martindavey87 2013’s ‘Covertá’ is the second EP, and third overall release, by American groove metal band Adrenaline Mob, and features eight tracks, all of which are covers by various well-known classic rock and metal groups. There’s always a number of ways to view these types of releases; are you a fan of the original compositions? Are you a fan of the covers? Is the selection of songs any good? Do they hold up well on their own?

To be honest... the answer is mostly no to all of these.

I mean, there’s some heavy hitters such as Van Halen, Dio, Rainbow, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and The Doors... but none of the covers are really all that good, and mostly sound uninspired and bland. Which is a shame considering the absolutely monumental amount of talent involved. No doubt the musicianship is incredible, and the sound and production makes all these tracks a lot heavier and polished than their originals, but in this case, that’s not enough to win me over.

In fact, the only two covers I find remotely interesting are Black Sabbath’s ‘The Mob Rules’, (which was already covered on their debut EP), and Rainbow’s ‘Kill the King’. But realistically, I either prefer the original recordings, or covers by other bands.

Overall, after a fantastic debut album, this is a fairly disappointing EP. Of course, these types of things aren’t really meant to be taken too seriously, and are just filling time between studio albums, which is why this is probably best saved for fans of the musicians involved.