Pop punk and metal covers of pop music has been a cherished pastime of fans for decades now. It’s a great way for bands to find an audience with people who may not be too familiar with their music yet. It also gives people a chance to sing along and engage with the band at live shows more easily. German metalcore band From Fall to Spring has taken this leap with a unique choice choosing to cover Backstreet Boys’ power ballad “Incomplete.”
From Fall to Spring keeps the emotional weight of the song right from the beginning. Opening with vocals that hold sorrow and longing in them. Instantly you can connect with a man who just lost the love of his life, and try to find a way to reconcile with where his life is due to take him from here.
It’s when the song kicks into the first verse that From Fall to Spring makes the song their own, taking the tone and tempo into a new direction. Drummer Benedikt Veith blasts the song with a frantic rhythmic pattern that lifts the spirit of the song, before vocalists Philip Wilhelm and Lukas Wilhelm come back in. Their voices now frame the song in a different light, as they sound more hopeful for the future. Instead of being stuck in the wallowing of self pity, From Fall to Spring can see the light at the end of the tunnel in the song.
The song builds up the tension and pace coming to a climax when the lyrics “I want to let you go” are screamed over the chorus. You can feel the bottled up emotions finally finding a release as the artist is truly letting it all out. Like the mental break down we’ve all had after a bad day, and we’re all alone in our car. From this moment on the vocals now have a brightness to the future, as the subject finally walks off into the sunset.
From Fall to Spring have taken Backstreet Boys’ “Incomplete” in a new direction and captured their own sound and heart in the song. The original will always be cherished by fans for generations to come, but From Fall to Spring’s version will help create new lifelong fans and be the gateway to the bands original music.