by Wade Kergan
The first installment of Six Feet Under's Graveyard Classics was a cool death metal tribute to the roots of metal. The second is also a tribute, but a more focused one that sets its sights directly on a song-for-song run of Back in Black by AC/DC. Chris Barnes' open-chest-wound vocals are equal parts menace and kitsch -- it's hard not to laugh as he gurgles &yes I'm baahhhgggck / I'm baaaahhhhgggck in blaaaaaaaahgggck& And that, one would guess, is the point. These are great lunkheaded songs -- &Let Me Put My Love Into You,& &What Do You Do for Money Honey,& &Have a Drink on Me,& -- and Six Feet Under are obviously having a blast as they rip through them. Guitarist Steve Swanson in particular invokes the demons of heavy metal past throughout Graveyard Classics, Vol. 2. Like the first volume, though, this is an album which is easily appreciated but only likely to be visited more than once by hardcore Six Feet Under fans and the stray AC/DC completist.