Pat Boone - In a Metal Mood (No More Mr. Nice Guy)
Hip-O Records
Lounge Rock
12 songs (53:07)
Release year: 1997
Reviewed by Jay
Archive review

Okay. I know this album is clearly not an album of heavy metal as most readers are used to but I feel that Pat Boone should be respected for this album. A long time Christian, he decided that he would do an album of metal covers on a lark to sort of poke fun at himself and his music. The album was not well received by his friends in the Christian community. The same week he appeared on the American Music Awards and The Tonight Show sporting a leather vest and an earring, his weekly gospel program on the biggest Christian television network in the world, Trinity Broadcasting, was cancelled. He took it in stride and allowed it to highlight what kind of humorless idiots run this network to begin with.

This album is enjoyable in its own right. First off, the liner notes are terrific and feature a long essay in which Pat describes his motives for recording this album and the song selections. He made excellent choices in which songs to cover and managed to get some of metal’s greats to perform on the album with him. Ronnie James Dio, Ritchie Blackmore, and Gregg Bissonette (ex-David Lee Roth, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani) among many others. The track list of his covers are as follows:

You’ve Got Another Thing Coming (Judas Priest)
Smoke on the Water (Deep Purple)
It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘N Roll) (AC/DC)
Panama (Van Halen)
No More Mr. Nice Guy (Alice Cooper)
Love Hurts (Nazareth)
Enter Sandman (Metallica)
Holy Diver (Dio)
Paradise City (Guns ‘N Roses)
The Wind Cries Mary (Jimi Hendrix)
Crazy Train (Ozzy Osbourne)
Stairway to Heaven (Led Zeppelin)

While I won’t analyze the music too in depth, it is suffice to say that if you’re into lounge rock with a slightly heavier than normal sound, you should enjoy this one a lot. Many of the arrangements include decently hard electric guitar and metal bass. Many people may recognize "Crazy Train" as the theme to The Osbourne’s show however; another singer was brought in to sing the vocals to that song since the producers could not get the rights to Boone’s version. Especially great are "Holy Diver" with Dio doing backing vocals, which completely maintains the spirit of the original and "Enter Sandman," which is refreshing since it breathes new life into a song that has ostensibly been played to death. This album can be credited with the recent spate of lounge bands like Lounge Against the Machine who cover popular rock tracks. Don’t miss this one. If you get a chance, take a listen. It just might surprise you!

Killing Songs :
All! Most of them are pretty faithful to the original versions.
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