Tom G Warrior
photo by Jozo Palkovits

Tom G. Warrior really did not like Metallica's Celtic Frost cover

As you may know, Metallica‘s recent shows have seen Kirk Hammett and Rob Trujillo taking a moment to cover a song that’s relevant to the location of the show they’re playing, and back in May, they covered Celtic Frost’s “The Usurper” in Switzerland. Well, as it turns out, one person who did not like their cover at all was Celtic Frost frontman Tom G. Warrior.

MetalSucks points to a new Rolling Stone interview with Warrior, where he said, “They butchered it, and it was humiliating. Why don’t they leave their millionaire fingers off it? They’ve long lost the ability to play true metal in my opinion. Maybe I should go onstage and do a really miserable version of [Metallica’s] ‘Hit the Lights’ with, like, 200 mistakes to set the balance.” Ouch!

Warrior also talked specifically about James Hetfield (who didn’t actually take part in the cover of “The Usurper”) and added, “This is completely personal, and I know probably the majority of your readers will not share this feeling, but even if they had done a fantastic job, I could puke all over it because I don’t support people who go hunting bears for a hobby. I cannot respect a person like that, even if it’s a genius musician.”

Meanwhile, Tom G. Warrior is also busy with his new band Triumph of Death, who perform the music of his pre-Celtic Frost band Hellhammer. They made their live debut in June, and they’re playing their first US show at Psycho Las Vegas this Saturday (8/17). They also might release a live EP. Stay tuned.

Warrior’s band Triptykon also have one, maybe two new albums on the way.

Metallica are on tour now in Europe with Ghost and they just added South American dates with Greta Van Fleet.