Royal Altar Releases Version Of “Rich Men North Of Richmond”... | Country In Heavy Metal Key And New Album?
I don’t remember many covers by Heavy Metal bands of songs from country music, so Oliver Anthony’s “Rich Men North Of Richmond” in a Metal version could well be an exception to the rule, and Royal Altar surprises with an impeccable rendition of this well-known song in the country music scene.
If you listen to the original version and compare it to this cover by Royal Altar, it’s remarkable how they maintain the essence of the song but add the power and fury of Heavy Metal, making the message much more relevant to our taste.
Royal Altar decided not only to record and release this single, but also to film a video clip that is now available on digital networks, showing the band in their natural, streetwise state. “The process of producing and filming the video was easy and we really enjoyed!!! We really had good time!!!”, assure the guys from Royal Altar.
The choice of “Rich Men North Of Richmond” was not accidental. The band themselves commented on this, saying that “Oliver Anthony hit the world with its pure truth about the big gap between rich and poor people. We strongly support the message of Oliver Anthony. We believe that we are all equal and our society needs more justice! We have to live in simplicity and care about what is happening around us.”
The idea of covering a country song with the sound and power that characterizes Royal Altar can be explained as follows: “We focused on the song’s strong social and spiritual message. We thought that this message should be played by us, musically more Metal, more powerful!!!”.
But it’s not all country music in the world of Royal Altar. After their great debut with the album “Warrior’s Dance” (recommended for people who know how to enjoy true Heavy Metal!), the band is thinking about a second album; “we have already started the recording for our second album. Our directions are both Heavy Metal and Epic Metal (welcome!),” they say.
The band also plans to continue performing live, mainly in their home country of Greece. They mentioned that the idea for 2026 is to finish the new album they are working on, and they also announced that “We want to complete our second full length album. On the 15th of March we perform live on UP THE HAMMERS FESTIVAL 2026 LEGACY EDITION and we have booked some other festivals in Greece. The main plan is to be together and share the good news of life and music!!!”
Royal Altar will have a busy 2026, and of course we are looking forward to the follow-up to “Warrior’s Dance,” an album that was released in 2024. You can read our review of it below, along with, of course, the aforementioned music video for “Rich Men North Of Richmond”…
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