Listen: Chuck Billy and Alexei Laiho Cover Ozzy Osbourne’s “Mr. Crowley”

Serj Tankian and Tom Morello’s “Crazy Train” cover from the upcoming Immortal Randy Rhoads – The Ultimate Tribute is fucking great (listen here), the perfect example of how to take the basic framework of a song and then make it your own.

Alas, as much as I love Testament’s Chuck Billy and Children of Bodom’s Alexi Laiho, their version of “Mr. Crowley” is not as interesting. The fact that Billy’s vocal style is so much rougher than Ozzy’s dictates that the approach be a little more aggressive than that of the original, and Laiho adds some flourishes here and there, but otherwise, it’s really just an exact recreation of the original. Even the guitar solo, an area where Laiho usually excels, is just a replica of Rhoads’ solo.

So does it suck? Of course not! It’s a great song, and these dudes are awesome. I just wish that instead of not deviating from Ozzy and Randy’s original recipe, they had used some of their own seasoning, y’know?

Listen to “Mr. Crowley” below. Immortal Randy Rhoads – The Ultimate Tribute comes out March 3 on UDR.

[via Metal Insider]