Home News Matt Matasci April 3rd, 2020 - 7:02 PM

Yes may not be the first band to come to mind when thinking of obvious influences for Colorado technical death metal band Allegaeon. But today they show off their progressive rock roots with a cover of Yes’s classic single “Roundabout,” one of the band’s more radio-friendly outings. Riley McShane and company certainly add a touch of metallic heaviness to the cover, with the vocalist using full-throated wail, the bass lines taking on a bit of chunkier attitude. The delicate instrumental intro and interludes are perfectly replicated by the metal band, and McShane shows off an ability to harmonize, an interesting change from his usual growled vocals.

“Roundabout” is taken from Yes’s four studio album Fragile, which was released in 1971. That album was the first of Yes to feature the iconic keyboardist Rick Wakeman and it found the band using his talents to expand their sound. “Roundabout,” clocking in at eight and a half minutes on the record, was cut down for a radio edit that became a major hit for the English art rock band.

“We’re very excited to release our rendition of ‘Roundabout’ by YES from their 1971 album Fragile,” said McShane. “We have always been huge fans of progressive rock and all the genres that were birthed from that era of music – in this cover we try to showcase not only those influences, but also how we as individual musicians have been impacted by the music of yesteryear and how that impact has helped us to develop our own styles of playing.”

In addition to releasing the new song, Allegaeon has released a behind the scenes video of the making of this song. You can check out that video and its insight into the band’s process in putting their own spin on the classic song below:

The band has also announced that McShane will take part in a Facebook Q & A on April 6th at 3 PM PST. Head over to the band’s Facebook page to watch it.