Footage of Evile in the studio recording their cover of Pantera‘s “Cemetery Gates” has been made available online and can be viewed below. The song turned out to be the last recording of Evile bassist Mike Alexander, who died of a pulmonary embolism on October 05th, 2009.
The band had the following to say on their experiences with the song:
“The day we got the call from our manager, Julie Weir, saying Metal Hammer have asked us to pay tribute to Dimebag Darrell by covering a Pantera song, we couldn’t have been more excited and honoured.
I mean, how many more bands are there more worthy of paying tribute to the man? With us all being fans of Pantera, we swiftly said yes. Mike though was the biggest Pantera fan. He’d seen them years ago and absolutely worshipped Dimebag.
After Dime got killed, Mike couldn’t listen to “Cemetary Gates” anymore. He’d always ask us to skip the track in the car/van/bus because it was too much for him. So when we chose to do the track it was tough for Mike, but I’m glad he did it.
It turned out to be the last song he recorded, which to me is a strangely “appropriate” tribute to him and Dimebag. I remember him nearing the verge of tears whilst I was doing the tremolo bends at the end of the track.
We hope Pantera/Dimebag fans find this a fitting tribute from us, as we’re simply fans ourselves who’ve been given this rare honour.”
httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lCsSE54DuI
The bands cover will appear on Metal Hammer‘s upcoming tribute to fallen Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell Abbott which will be packed with the 200th issue of Metal Hammer which is due on stands on December 16th. As previously reported, the full track listing for the tribute effort runs as follows:
01 – Zakk Wylde – “Suicide Note, Pt. 1”
02 – Machine Head – “Fucking Hostile”
03 – Malefice – “I’m Broken”
04 – Avenged Sevenfold – “Walk”
05 – Evile – “Cemetery Gates”
06 – Five Finger Death Punch – “A New Level”
07 – Biohazard – “Mouth For War”
08 – Sylosis – “Strength Beyond Strength”
09 – Chimaira – “Slaughtered”
10 – Unearth – “Sandblasted Skin”
11 – Throwdown – “Becoming”
12 – Kiuas – “This Love”
13 – This Is Hell – “Rise“
