Stream Torche, Cave In, Boris, Kylesa and More Covers of Nirvana’s Nevermind

Well, this is fun: Robotic Empire has gotten a bunch of well-known heavy bands together to cover Nirvana’s Nevermind in its entirety, start to finish. It’s the label’s second Nirvana tribute — they tackled In Utero last year — and this time they’ve chosen Torche, Cave In, Kylesa, Thou, Boris, Young Widows and more to tackle the album that perhaps most defined the entire ’90s.

What’s most fun about these kinds of tributes is hearing how each band interprets their given track. Japanese doom/noise/blues metallers Boris turn “Lithium” on its head to such a degree that the track is barely recognizable until the chorus lyrics provide a compass, while Kylesa’s version of “Come As You Are” is positively haunting and hypnotic. Other bands chose a more straight-forward approach — Cave In’s “Breed” and Torche’s “In Bloom” — but do it in such a way that there’s no mistaking who’s performing the track. It’s an engaging listen through and through, although I concede that if you were never into Nirvana, well, this probably won’t convert you.

Stream Whatever Nevermind below via Noisey. Order it on vinyl here, or digitally via Bandcamp.