When it comes down to it, recorded music can be quite subjective as varying styles can be adapted to a song. You can change the overall sound yet retain all the essential familiarities, demonstrating the fluidity and amorphous nature of music. Metallica's perennial classic "Enter Sandman" is world-renowned for its punchy riffing and unforgettable vocal melodies and the song has now undergone a folk makeover from artist Shel.

With a lullaby version of "Enter Sandman" already out and embodying the nature of the song's lyrics, Shel have turned the track into a more sinister sounding bedtime song. The cover opens with a lone, ethereal vocal towing the line that divides singing and whispering. Following the line "We're off to Never-Never Land" soft drum strikes enter the fold along with the gentle picking of the song's motif on a mandolin. The intensity gradually increases, drifting further from the original version as Shel put their own spin on the song.

By the song's conclusion, the listener is left in a calm, almost dream-like state on the verge of shutting weary eyes in favor of sleep, which is by no means a discredit to the cover. Shel effectively put their stamp on "Enter Sandman," utilizing the lyrical themes to their advantage. As TeamRock reports, singer Eva Holbrook commented on the cover, stating, “When recording Enter Sandman, I said a prayer to the gods of rock that I wouldn’t be struck dead, or mysteriously electrocuted, for whispering the lyrics to a Metallica song. I’ve survived to say that I’m truly blown away by the poetry of the song.”

"Enter Sandman" comes off Metallica's eponymous 1991 record, better known as The Black Album. The song is arguably the band's biggest hit, propelling Metallica to an excess of 16 million units sold over the last quarter century, with the number rising each week.

Metallica have been in the studio on and off as they prepare the follow-up to 2008's Death Magnetic. Drummer Lars Ulrich provided an update over the weekend, revealing the new record is "mostly done" and joked, "It may come out any century now, actually."

See Where Metallica's The Black Album Ranks Among the Top 90 Hard Rock + Metal Albums of the 1990s

You Think You Know Metallica?

More From Loudwire