What would it sounds like if Metallica’s James Hetfield sang Slayer’s crushing hit “Raining Blood?” AI (artificial intelligence) once again holds the answer to such a question — it sounds menacing!
As much as we’d all like to cry foul at AI, like most things in life, us humans can’t help but be enamored with the same things we feign outrage over, right? Just like how song mash-ups were super popular over a decade ago, the utilization of AI to bring to life things that only existing within the confines of our imagination is pretty special.
What an amazing feat we’ve achieved as a species to digitally archive so much art and media that with a few clicks, we can usher in a new era of fun-loving time-wasting and hear Papa Het as if he was in Slayer back in the ’80s. Nobody should take this for granted.
All ranting aside, let’s get down to business and dig into this AI cover, huh?
AI’s render of Hetfield’s voice within the framework of Slayer takes it to thrash’s extreme, sounding closer to Kreator’s Mille Petrozza (as one YouTube commenter notes), Morbid Saint’s Pat Lind, Demolition Hammer’s James Reilly and, yes, Slayer’s own Tom Araya!
It sounds as if Papa Het has a clenched-teeth underbite that he’s forcing grunts through, like a muzzled rottweiler with a bad owner.
READ MORE: Some Smartass Used AI to Have Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine Sing Metallica’s ‘Master of Puppets’
Of course, even without this feral AI version of Hetfield, “Raining Blood” is one of the most extreme examples of thrash in existence as Slayer’s 1986 masterpiece Reign in Blood largely served as proto-death metal blueprint.
Back in 2009, Metallica even played a portion of “Raining Blood” backstage during a rehearsal run, but it was a brief instrumental bit. So, thank you AI for giving us all the version we’ve been dying to here all these years.
Listen below.
AI James Hetfield Sings Slayer’s “Raining Blood”
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