Algal the Bard opens a can of medieval whoop-ass on System Of A Down's Aerials

(Image credit: Algal the Bard/YouTube)

Algal The Bard is back.

Having previously delighted the entire internet with his medieval cover of Metallica’s Nothing Else Matters, his medieval cover of Rammstein's Du Hast and his medieval cover of Dio's Rainbow In The Dark, Algal has added - you guessed it - a medieval cover of System Of A Down's Aerials to his arsenal of medieval delights.

Algal - a leading light of the Bardcore movement since the mid-2010s - has backdated SOAD's 2001 classic Aerials with the sounds of viola da gamba, the Irish bouzouki, the xaphoon and the lute-guitar, removing much of the original's righteous fury but introducing a more ancient timbre. You can literally feel the 14th century.

It's the perfect soundtrack to your next great feast: take some minstrels, add a few troubadours, throw in a couple of jesters and an acrobat, conjure up a conjurer and top it all off with Algal the Bard. It'll go well with all those flagons of mead and the suckling pig.

“What I enjoy most about Bardcore is that I can close my eyes and imagine being in a medieval tavern playing for a drunk public wanting to dance!" says Algal (otherwise known as full-time musician Álvaro Galán). "But from a more realistic perspective, I love to investigate the sounds of the past."

Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 40 years in music industry, online for 27. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.