Lounge/Pieces of Heaven, A Glimpse of Hell

Combining 2006's Lounge with 2009's Pieces of Heaven, a Glimpse of Hell, Swedish band Hellsongs deliver an album packed with reimagined metal classics on this two-EP compilation. Recasting iconic metal songs like Metallica's "Seek & Destroy," Black Sabbath's "War Pigs," Judas Priest's "Breaking the Law," and Iron Maiden's "Run to the Hills" as delicate and reflective folk tunes, the band truly transforms these covers. Stripped of their menace and drive, the songs here show that the distance between metal god and coffeehouse crooner might not be as long as we'd all like to think. ~ Gregory Heaney