01. Disgust Me
02. Bizarre Love Triangle (New Order cover)
03. Fucking Hostile (Pantera cover)
04. Crawling (Linkin Park cover)
05. Only Happy When It Rains [feat. Lzzy Hale] (Garbage cover)
06. Don't Speak (No Doubt cover)
With a new full-length studio album on the horizon, New Years Day have followed in the footsteps of Halestorm and Ghost by releasing a covers EP to whet people's appetites. Well, one original track, Disgust Me, and some covers.
Front-woman Ash Costello has picked songs that influenced her growing up, and helped to shape New Years Day into the band it has become. She's picked some killer songs here, and what's really interesting is that the band has reworked them all quite a bit, ensuring that they're far from merely copies of the originals.
It's a brave move, as purists will always be upset by this and cry "butchery". However, I personally think that these interpretations make their versions relevant, and explore the songs in new and interesting ways. Whether this 'works' is down to personal preference.
Opener, original track Disgust Me, is really good, and certainly bodes well for the next studio album. It has the huge melodic chorus, heavy riffs and Industrial undertones that we've come to expect from New Years Day.
Bizarre Love Triangle is my personal favourite, and was an unexpected surprise. This slamming rendition keeps the melody of the original, but 'metalizes' it nicely.
Fucking Hostile was always my least favourite track on Pantera's otherwise incredible Vulgar Display of Power album. However, this cover is overall slower, and takes a more mid-paced Industrial approach to the song. That fat groove is still there though!
The Linkin Park cover is pretty cool, with again, a Pop meets Industrial vibe. However, I wasn't keen on the slamming version of Only Happy When It Rains. Even Halestorm's Lzzy Hale's additional vocals don't save it. I love the original, but this cover is an example of when significant changes to a song don't always work; well not to my ears anyway. That's the complexity of musical taste for you! However, I think the heavy take on No Doubt's Don't Speak works really well. It's such a great song, and I feel the band really drew out its best qualities, whilst adding some Metal brutality in just the right places.
Overall, Diary of a Creep is pretty cool. Each cover won't be to everyone's taste, but they're all well done. I do think that this trend of popular contemporary bands putting out cover EPs is awesome though, as not only do we get to share their creative influences, but some legendary bands and songs are being passed down to a new generation of Rock fans.
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