review of Closer a NIN cover by Asking Alexandria for Punk goes 90's

Like them or loath them everyone in the metal scene has heard of Asking Alexandria, arguably the UK's biggest metalcore band since BMTH (both of which I fucking adore musically. Oh alright maybe I do have a man crush on Oli sykes).

I've been a fan of the Punk goes series since I was introduced to AA with Right Now (their cover of the rather crap Akon song) but when I heard that they had covered a NIN (Nine Inch Nails for those of you who don't know) track my heart sank. While not a huge fan of the band I still enjoy and respect the band to have an opinion on what happens to their music and I historically don't enjoy covers of really old songs, with the main exception being Every time Yashin's cover of the classic Britney song.

I went ahead and listened to the track anyway just in case it surprised me.

IT DID AND I LOVE IT!

Unlike the bands Akon cover where they went for something predictable their NIN cover brought us something totally new for the first half at least and while many naysayers will argue that after that they do go back to their comfort zone but that first part is all that is needed. If the whole song was recorded in the same way it would have been a tribute rather than a cover,* on the other hand if it had been done the other way it would have been just another AA song.

*In my opinion the difference between a tribute and a cover is that a tribute is the song re-made note for note while a cover is a re-imagining of a song.