Vocal Covers? OK, What’s The Point?


Tell me, kids. What’s with the vocal covers? I can understand bands doing covers of their favorite tunes. Been happening since the dawn of music, in fact. But dudes (and the occasional dudette) hanging out in their bedrooms—with mic in hand and webcam turned on—attempting to best their favorite growler for the world to see, comment on, make fun of, etc. seems like a stretch.

Don’t ask me how I ended up in Aegaeon’s crosshairs on YouTube. They’re just one of many and YouTube itself is as vast (and mostly useless) as the rest of the Internet, so videos of the strange and bizarre are bound to pop up. And they did. Aegaeon is a young deathcore outfit from Evansville, Indiana. They write the kind of stuff Suffocation had in the bag 20 years ago, but with a twitchy, ADHD groove. So, yeah, basic deathcore. The kind of stuff twitchy, ADHD kids like. No problem there, actually. I’m pretty sure hardcore dudes into Slayer, Testament, Metallica, and Megadeth thought Death, Incantation, and Napalm Death were tuneless stuff twitchy, ADHD stuff kids just so happened to like. Because it was different. Because it was extreme.

But vocal covers? Really? I guess I can recall being impressed by Karl Willetts, Barney Greenway, Chuck Schuldiner, Jeff Becerra, Antti Boman, Tomi Koivusaari, LG Petrov, and the like. Perhaps I can recall trying to mimic the aforementioned frontmen in one shape or another, but it was never intended to be for an audience. Just an indecipherable grunt here, a throat-aching growl there while doing requisite ‘round-the-house chores.

Check out the videos and tell me the allure. Are they tomorrow’s extreme metal frontmen or am I just an old fart thinking the same thing my elders thought ‘Kids these days!’ when I couldn’t stop playing “Pull the Plug” on my Walkman?