SebastiAn & Metallica - Don't Tread On Else Matters

It doesn't get much bigger than Metallica, so fittingly, they've enlisted more than 50 artists to take on the 12 tracks from their iconic, eponymous album, which turns 30 years old on August 12th. Spanning genres and continents, the Metallica Blacklist project features all kinds of incredible and unlikely artists and their renditions of the all-time album. J Balvin and St. Vincent are among the two earliest entrants, while Rina Sawayama, Weezer, Chase & Status, Dave Gahan and Darius Rucker, to name a few, are still in store, with the full compilation dropping September 10th.

However, today is about SebastiAn, who, as far as I can tell, is the only artist to take on multiple tracks, combining "Don't Tread On Me" and "Nothing Else Matters."  Throwing a curveball right from the start, SebastiAn sets the mood with a funky opening that features "an improbable encounter of Freddie Mercury hanging out with Prince in a smoky downtown L.A. rave." Surprisingly, or perhaps not, these groovy guitar licks fit fabulously with the bristling bass and James Hetfield's gritty vocals. Even better, the groove grows fatter and funkier with additional horns bolstering the sound, pushing things further towards the orchestral final two-thirds of the track. Just as the funkiness fades, the strings and horns swell into the meat of "Don't Tread On Else Matters," the ominous and stunning electro-symphony of "Nothing Else Matters."

Absolutely flooring, there is no denying the fever-pitch power of SebastiAn's recombinant rendition of these two Metallica mainstays. Listen below and find more of the Metallica Blacklist project here. FOLLOW SEBASTIAN: FACEBOOK SOUNDCLOUD TWITTER

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