“Frankenstein” – The Edgar Winter Group Rock Classic, an Over Kill Thrash Metal cover song
If I had to choose one of my favorite Rock instrumental songs of all time, there is no doubt “Frankenstein” comes to mind. The Edgar Winter Group released “They Only Come Out At Night” in November of 1972, this is the album you will find this original song on. Written by Edgar Winter, how ahead of it’s time was this song? Realistically, this now Classic Rock masterpiece of an instrumental song was as diversified as it was heavy. The multi talented musicianship of Edgar Winter is standout on “Frankenstein”, with the keyboards creating enough spookiness to validate the song’s title. The saxophone, in my Metal opinion, has always had a macabre sounding affect on me, only adding to the overall eerie coolness that “Frankenstein” erupts. I fell Metal head over heels for this song decades ago… I still slap this song on very frequently, especially around Halloween. Seriously, this song just goes perfect when Autumn arrives… once October hits, I have plenty of scary and heavy songs to bust out and revel in their dark side glory, “Frankenstein” leads the pack. No Halloween season can ever get by me, without listening to this song on a consistent basis. The Edgar Winter Group released a mammoth of a Rock album with “They Only Come Out At Night”, “Frankenstein” just made this release immensely complete, with it’s inclusion.
Now, step in… Over Kill. “Horrorscope” was released on September 3, 1991 and on this album, Over Kill includes the cover version of “Frankenstein”. The running time of this Over Kill cover version comes in at 3:29, compared to The Edgar Winter Group’s original version of 4:44. Despite the shortened length of time, Over Kill demonstrated a monstrous Thrash Metal approach to honoring such a legendary Rock instrumental classic. Yes, I bought this Over Kill album within the first week of it’s release back in 1991, (I still have it on cassette too). When I first listened to Over Kill’s Thrash Metal burn on “Frankenstein”, I was stunned, all I felt was the immediate power force of guitar, bass and drums all coming together like a Metal typhoon. The only word that I honestly can remember saying aloud, listening for the first time to Over Kill’s cover version was… whoa. I also dropped plenty of complimentary f-bombs alongside the adjectives of great, incredible and insane. I still do, when talking about this Over Kill cover of “Frankenstein”. I will not lie, I look upon Over Kill, past and present, as if they were and still are the Thrash Metal kings of the entire universe. That type of Metal bias has no persuasion whatsoever, when I tell the entire planet that this cover by Over Kill is one for the Metal record books. As for the “Horrorscope” album itself… Thrash Metal of profound intensity.
I will succumb by stating, I honestly without a Metal doubt, cannot choose one version of “Frankenstein” over the other. This is a wicked example of how an original Rock Classic can be so legendary and inspiring, yet the cover version with all of it’s grand Thrash Metal bite and might, results in my saying it is a Metal tie. September is just around the corner… October shall be upon us very soon… “Frankenstein” will be played very loud by me very many times starting now… my home stereo speakers are going to get a Metal workout like they never experienced before.
This entry was posted on August 31, 2009 at 5:15 am and is filed under 1970's classic rock albums, 1970's classic rock bands, 1970's classic rock songs, 1970's hard rock bands, 1970's classic rock music, 1970's hard rock, 1970's Rock, 1970's rock music, 1980's thrash metal music, 1980's metal music, 1990's heavy metal albums, 1990's heavy metal bands, 1990's thrash metal albums, 1990's thrash metal bands, 1990's thrash metal songs, classic hard rock, classic hard rock bands, classic hard rock music, classic heavy metal albums, classic rock albums, classic rock bands, classic rock cover songs, classic rock instrumentals, classic rock music, classic rock music 1972, classic rock songs, cool album covers, essential classic rock albums, essential thrash metal albums, hard rock songs, Heavy Metal, heavy metal album covers, heavy metal albums, heavy metal cover songs, Metal, metal music, metal odyssey, Music, old school hard rock, old school thrash metal music, Over Kill, Rock, rock music, Thrash Metal, thrash metal albums 1991, thrash metal cover songs, thrash metal music, thrash metal music 1991, thrash metal music instrumental songs, thrash metal music reviews, vintage rock albums with tags 1970's classic rock music, 1970's hard rock music, 1970's rock music, 1980's metal music, 1990's metal music, 1990's thrash metal music, bobby "blitz" ellsworth vocalist, classic rock albums, classic rock instrumentals, classic rock music, classic rock music 1972, d.d. verni bass guitarist, edgar winter, edgar winter rock musician, frankenstein rock instrumental song, metal music, metal odyssey, Music, over kill frankenstein cover song, over kill horrorscope album 1991, over kill thrash metal band, overkill frankenstein cover song, overkill thrash metal band, rock music, the edgar winter group 1972, the edgar winter group rock band, they only come out at night album 1972, thrash metal albums, thrash metal bands, thrash metal instrumentals, thrash metal music 1991. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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