The Canadian thrash metal band Annihilator has just released a cover of Van Halen’s “Romeo Delight”. Grab your whiskey, find somebody to squeeze and turn the volume up!
The track, which also features Dave Lombardo (Slayer) on drums and Stu Block (Iced Earth, Into Eternity) on vocals, is included on Annihilator’s album due out February 18th titled Metal II . As you’ll hear, the band stays true to the original Van Halen version from 1980’s Women and Children First. Block even delivers some impressive David Lee-like high notes. Also, a big thumbs up and two-finger metal devil horn salute to Annihilator’s Jeff Waters who channels his inner Eddie Van Halen on lead guitar.
Here’s what Waters posted to YouTube along with the video (above):
There was something about Women and Children First. It was massively brutal attitude meeting aggression — meets a David Lee Roth-fronted party. You have to remember when this came out. ‘Romeo Delight’ is the most ‘heavy’ song from Van Halen, in my (and Kerry King’s!) opinion. The photos on the cover/back cover of Women and Children First were impactful. It was a green cover and it was a photo of the band posing for a record cover shot and instead of blowing that photo up to the full size of the LP, they cropped it so it was a third the size of the record and everything around it was green. I would stare at the front and back pics for hours! Eddie was like a second father in a way. Millions [of others] probably feel that way too and only fans of his from back then could understand this.
His playing, writing, performance, and smile were second to none. EVER. He was a superb writer, lead guitar innovator, genius rhythm player, and was able to build a gear empire. He took chances. Did his own thing. It worked. Millions and more will mourn him as long as the future world likes music. But we also will be celebrating forever, as musicians will continue to hand down the ‘EVH-influenced-musical-genes’ to future generations!
Listen To Van Halen “Romeo Delight” (1980)