The Tubs Take On Metallica With a Jangling, Sardonic Twist

BrooklynVegan’s latest weekly playlist features a new recording from The Tubs that pulls a Metallica song into a completely different orbit. The track arrives without fanfare, buried among dozens of other selections, but it stands out for how casually it dismantles the source material’s theatrical heft. The band, known for twisting jangly indie rock into something nervy and sarcastic, treat the metal giants’ work less as holy text and more as a sturdy melody that can handle a little roughhousing.

The Tubs released their debut full-length, Dead Meat, early last year on Trouble in Mind. That record established them as a group that wrings genuine emotion from cynicism, with frontman Owen Williams’ barbed lyrics riding guitars that recall the softer side of late-’80s British indie. Their version of a Metallica song doesn’t try to mimic the original’s scale. It replaces down-tuned drama with a sprightly, almost breezy arrangement that feels like a knowing wink, not a joke. The chorus still carries, but it’s now buoyed by chiming riffs and a rhythm section that lurches like a pub rock band on a good night.

Covers like this don’t often work. They can feel like novelty or forced cleverness. But The Tubs have an instinct for understatement that keeps things from tipping into irony. The cover becomes a genuine translation, finding something new in a song that’s been absorbed into rock’s collective memory. It’s a reminder that even the most serious music can withstand a bit of irreverent affection, especially when the people doing the covering know exactly what they’re taking apart.