On the first single taken from the volume Best Of Soundgarden Redux, which will be released on July 14 parallel to the MER Redux Series instalment Superunknown Redux, American sludge metal stalwarts Witch Ripper present their mind-blowing cover of the Soundgarden megahit, "Rusty Cage". Listen below.

Best Of Soundgarden Redux contains 15 cover versions of deep cuts and all-time classics from across Soundgarden's extensive catalog recorded by more exciting artists.

"Soundgarden was one of the first bands that I got into as a kid", Witch Ripper singer and guitarist Chad Fox writes. "The vibe of the music and particularly Chris Cornell's vocals made Seattle seem like some far away magical land of sound, even though I grew up only an hour away.  Even as a kid, I somehow knew that Soundgarden were one of the best bands to ever do it, and they inspired me to eventually move to Seattle to create my own music."

Curtis Parker adds: "I knew, 'Rusty Cage' was the song that we wanted to tackle right away", the vocalist and guitarist recalls. "The song is uptempo and energetic while there are also some crazy time signatures and polyrhythms going on. It was a fun challenge to map out this banger and then add some changes to make it our own. It's a deceptively difficult song, but once we cracked the code, it was an absolute blast to put together."

Best of Soungarden Redux tracklisting:

Freedom Hawk - "Loud Love"
Heavy Temple - "Ugly Truth"
High Desert Queen - "Slaves And Bulldozers"
Witch Ripper - "Rusty Cage"
Mirakler - "Birth Ritual"
Miss Lava - "Burden In My Hand"
Sun Crow - "Toy Box"
Spotlights - "Jesus Christ Pose"
Swamp Coffin - "Nothing To Say"
Milana - "Outshined"
Josiah - "Applebite"
Lamassu - "Searching With My Good Eye Closed"
Blue Heron - "Uncovered"
Dendrites - "Tighter and Tighter"
Restless Spirit - "Room A Thousand Years Wide"

"Rusty Cage"

For details on the forthcoming MER Redux Series instalment, Superunknown Redux, head here.

(Photo - Chris Schanz)