SOULFLY, BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE, DARKEST HOUR Featured On 'Higher Voltage' CD

Fifteen of rock's hottest bands have contributed cover versions of classic songs to the second instalment of Kerrang! magazine's free "High Voltage" CDs.

"Higher Voltage" — which includes exclusive recordings by LOSTPROPHETS, AIDEN, FIGHTSTAR and MADINA LAKE and rare covers by FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND and GALLOWS — will be given away free with Kerrang! issue 1164, which goes on sale June 20.

"We had such an amazing response to our 25th birthday 'High Voltage' CD that we figured it'd be a good idea to do it all over again," says K! editor Paul Brannigan. "'Higher Voltage' is quite possibly the best Kerrang! CD ever and we know you're gonna love it."

Welsh sextet LOSTPROPHETS are set to surprise readers with a brutal cover of MACHINE HEAD's "Davidian", a track which appeared on the Bay Area metallers' classic 1994 debut "Burn My Eyes".

"I hope people will be freaked out by our version when they hear it," laughs frontman Ian Watkins.

"We were metal kids and 'Davidian' was our anthem! I remember getting the album and just being completely blown away and the band we were in at the time were full-on metal. We were called FLESHBIND and it was just pure thrash metal. We were totally into SEPULTURA and PANTERA and all of that good stuff. After that I was in a hardcore band called PUBLIC DISTURBANCE. But then we started LOSTPROPHETS because we wanted to be free to experiment and not be restricted but I still love all that old thrash stuff. You can tell we love it from the enjoyment that went into the recording of it.

"People would expect us to do an '80s pop cover or that sort of thing," he adds. "We thought, 'Fuck it', we'll just go for it and do an all-out metal song. You can't fuck with 'Davidian'! That's the fucking shit! I want someone at Kerrang! to play it to Robb Flynn and I want to get a quote from him about what he thinks... unless he says really bad things about it and then just say you couldn't find him."

Kerrang! did find MACHINE HEAD's Flynn to discover what he thought of the idea LOSTPROPHETS re-recording one of his most memorable songs.

"I was quite shocked when I first heard they were covering it, actually," says Flynn. "I thought, 'LOSTPROPHETS? Really?'. But then I read somewhere that they were big MACHINE HEAD fans, I think LOSTPROPHETS will do a good job too. I just hope they hope they don't butcher it like FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND did with 'Damage, Inc.' on Kerrang!'s 'Master Of Puppets' tribute album. If LOSTPROPHETS do that to our song, then we'll fucking kill them!

"I'd be stoked if they did a good job, and I've got a hunch they will," he smiles. "I don't know too much about them but something tells me that they know their MACHINE HEAD!"

Merthyr Tydfil sextet THE BLACKOUT pay tribute to nu-metallers LIMP BIZKIT on the track "My Generation".

"When we started this band, we all loved nu-metal," reveals vocalist Sean Smith. "We all fucking loved LIMP BIZKIT. The reason I got into music was through hearing that band. Before that, I was a trance DJ! I heard Freddy D swear a few times and then I decided 'I want in on that!'. 'My Generation' is one of our favourite LIMP BIZKIT songs. Simple as that. We decided to do a song with lots of rapping in it, because I can spit some rhymes."

The band have altered Fred Durst's lyrics to give the nu-metal anthem a distinctly Welsh flavor.

"Take us to the Merthyr Bridge!" laughs Smith. "It's where we come from, so why not give our hometown a bit of props! And instead of rapping 'welcome to the jungle', we changed it to 'welcome to the valleys', because they're just as dangerous. It was a dream come true to record this and hopefully people won't hate us for it!"

BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE revisit METALLICA's back catalogue for the second time. The band covered "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" for the special "Kerrang! Remastered" CD in April 2006.

"This time, we covered 'Creeping Death'," says frontman Matt Tuck. "We chose it because we used to play it years ago before we got signed. We love this song a lot and played it on our last tour and it went down a treat.

"We only spent about eight hours on it — from setting up to mixing it — so we're so happy how it came out. It's pretty fucking heavy! Maybe we'll get to jam it with METALLICA on the upcoming summer tour! Hell yeah!"

THEAUDITION took time out of their recent tour with THE ACADEMY IS... to record a turbo-charged cover of BON JOVI's "Livin' On A Prayer" with a handful of Kerrang! competition winners in Livingstone Studios, London.

"We chose 'Livin' On A Prayer' because it's so recognizable and thought it would be a challenge to record," says frontman Danny Stevens. "It was really strenuous to sing. Apparently Jon Bon Jovi even had a hard time singing it a lot of the time. It was great getting some of our fans to sing 'wo-ah!' on the choruses too!"

Kerrang!'s "Higher Voltage" features the following track listing:

LOSTPROPHETS "Davidian" (Machine Head)
AIDEN "Drain You" (Nirvana)
FIGHTSTAR "Breaking The Law" (Judas Priest)
BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE "Creeping Death" (Metallica)
THE AUTOMATIC "Epic" (Faith No More)
FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND "The Boys Are Back In Town" (Thin Lizzy)
MADINA LAKE "Today" (Smashing Pumpkins)
SIGN "Youth Gone Wild" (Skid Row)
THEAUDITION "Livin' On A Prayer" (Bon Jovi)
SOULFLY "Beautiful People" (Marilyn Manson)
THE BLACKOUT "My Generation" (Limp Bizkit)
YOURCODENAMEIS:MILO "Feel Good Hit Of The Summer" (Queens Of The Stone Age)
DARKEST HOUR "Nazi Punks Fuck Off" (Dead Kennedys)
GALLOWS "Nervous Breakdown" (Black Flag)
BRING ME THE HORIZON "Eyeless" (Slipknot)

"Higher Voltage" is only available with Kerrang! issue 1164, on sale next Wednesday (June 20). Reserve your copy now to avoid disappointment.