The Heaviest Version of Prince’s “Purple Rain” You Will Ever Hear
Inter Arma’s cover of Prince’s classic “Purple Rain” starts out innocently enough: the song’s iconic opening chords, the familiar crooning (albeit with a much gruffer sounding vocal)… basically an ever-so-slightly heavier version. But then the guitar solo kicks in about halfway through the track and it takes a turn for the more extreme, with fuzzed out walls of distortion providing the backdrop for the ensuing shredfest. It’s glorious, and the fact that Inter Arma’s version is both slower and tuned lower than Prince’s original makes it hit even harder, even if it’s not balls to the wall brutality in the way we usually think of defining “heavy.”
“Purple Rain” comes from Inter Arma’s forthcoming covers album, Garbers Days Revisited — a play on words based on the name of the band’s former practice space and Metallica’s 1987 covers EP Garage Days Revisited — that so far has seen the band showcase their versions of Neil Young’s “Southern Man” and Nine Inch Nails’ “March of the Pigs.” Garbers Days Revisited comes out on July 10 via Relapse; pre-order here. Track list and Prince cover embed below.
- “Scarecrow” (Ministry Cover)
- “Southern Man” (Neil Young Cover)
- “Hard Times” (Cro-Mags Cover)
- “March Of The Pigs” (Nine Inch Nails Cover)
- “The Girl Who Lives On Heaven Hill” (Hüsker Dü Cover)
- “In League With Satan” (Venom Cover)
- “Runnin Down A Dream” (Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers Cover)
- “Purple Rain” (Prince Cover)
