Doom and sludge metal masters Fister are back once again, this time with an interesting take on songs from their heavy metal heroes. This is no typical covers album though as Fister has decidedly molded each of these cuts into the Fister sound and they segue seamlessly from thunderous cut to cut; giving off the feeling that some sort of journey is taking place within the music. 

The two headliners in this mud dragging hike are Metallica’s “For Whom The Bell Tolls” and Slayer’s “Mandatory Suicide”, two songs known for thrashing it out and are short in length, but not in this case as both are stretched over the 7 minute mark! The Metallica groove is slowed down to a snail’s pace and makes for a remarkable doom metal romp and the same goes for “Mandatory Suicide”, although Fister opts to make a bit more atmospheric and chaotic in the backdrop. 

Fister goes off the beaten track, taking on a slab of Darkthrone from their punk era, “Too Old Too Cold” fits the chunky motif of the band and feels like a song High On Fire could have written. Heads turn once again when the stoner act turn Danzig’s “How The Gods Kill” to more atmospheric death metal stomp and feeling total chill in places and groovy in others. Combating different flavors of metal was a great choice as the vicious Hellhammer (“Reaper”) and Pungent Stench (“And Only Hunger Remains”) go through the Fister grind before concluding with a re-recording of their own song “The Failure”, which was originally only available a split 7” with Dopethrone. Very intriguing covers album; worth it for the Metallica and Slayer covers alone.