When the forces of punk, metal and straight-up rock n’ roll are converging under the command of detail-oriented players, incredible things start to happen. For example, simple riffs become mountain-born mudslides, angst-ridden vocals turn into cathartic barking, and pop songs so removed from the heavier end of music that they serve as the antithesis of head-banging suddenly become anthems for rockers of a discerning taste. The latter is what The Veer Union are out for in their interesting cover of “Monster,” which I find to be one of the most charismatic metal covers of a mainstream pop single to earn buzz in years.
You’d never know this was a Justin Bieber-Shawn Mendes collaborative release in its original state if you listened to The Veer Union’s take on it first, and this isn’t to say that the OG version of “Monster” lacked personality – quite the opposite. If anything, the sludgy pull of the backend meshed with the thrashing guitars at the forefront of the mix contribute so much to the identity of the music that it transforms this composition into something born to be heavy. That’s no easy feat, even for the most sophisticated of acts, let alone a Canadian metal act living fairly under the radar of mainstream ears.
Watch the video for “Monster” by The Veer Union below
If you weren’t a fan of The Veer Union before listening to their new single or checking out its equally enrapturing music video, I feel confident in saying you’re going to be after giving these riffs a spin. There’s not enough guitar carnage making its way onto the FM dial anymore, but with talent like this making a play for international attention, I don’t know that such a narrative is going to remain legitimate much longer. From the Canadian underground to the American mainstream, this is a single that makes sense for anyone who enjoys original, charmingly edgy execution at its most precise.