Iron Horse

Related Content

• Take that, Ticketmaster! String Cheese Incident buys its own tickets and resells without fees
  May 17, 2012
• David Ellefson of Megadeth: "We had punk attitude with metal chops"
  February 28, 2012
• Barry Fey on that time that he held a gun to Axl Rose's head and how the business has changed
  November 18, 2011
• Top five Headbanger's Ball videos
  August 3, 2011
• Tastebuds.fm sets you up based on musical tastes, finds Adele fans get messaged but not laid
  July 13, 2011

More About

• Metallica
• Fallujah
• Bluegrass
• Heavy Metal

Like this Story?

Sign up for the Music Newsletter: Keep your thumb on the local music scene with music features, additional online music listings and show picks. We'll also send special ticket offers and music promotions available only to our Music Newsletter subscribers.

Privacy Policy Cancel Continue

Heavy metal and bluegrass go together like angry steelworkers and precious little cucumber finger sandwiches with the crusts cut off. Nonetheless, the acoustic pluckers in Alabama's Iron Horse take on the music of Metallica, to middling results. No doubt this horse knows its way around a dobro, a mando, a banjo, but who cares? This is Metallica we're talking about, an ass-whuppin' band that's more apt to make you want to bomb Fallujah than contemplate a mountain stream or a sweetly rendered G-run. The bulk of the tunes on this yo-yo sound like something better suited to an outdoor stage at a strawberry festival -- "Unforgiven," "Nothing Else Matters," Enter Sandman," "Hero of the Day" and even the title cut "Fade to Black" are all reduced to sappy dreck in the hands of these well-intentioned chicken-lickers. An attempt to "Ride the Lightning" results in similar disappointment. Before the disc fades to black, however, the final two cuts, "Fuel" and "The Four Horsemen," serve up some actual chicken-lickin' and strawberry-pickin' that even the staunchest metallurgist can appreciate.