Charlie Benante is someone that I have looked up to and admired since my neighbor let me dub State Of Euphoria on cassette. It was Wrestlemania III, which most people remember for Andre The Giant Vs. Hulk Hogan and the slam heard round the world. Or “Macho Man” Randy Savage Vs. Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat in what a lot of people deem the greatest wrestling match of all time.

But what I remember it for was Alice Cooper walking out to the ring with Jake “The Snake” Roberts. Leading up to the event, Alice kept name-dropping bands like Megadeth and Anthrax. To the point where my neighbor bought Peace Sells and State Of Euphoria. Listening to both changed what I was listening to immediately. Thrash instantly grabbed, and Charlie specifically was someone I looked up to. Not only as a drummer but as a songwriter.

I can recall a specific instance where the singer of a covers band I was trying out for mentioned “I don’t know of any drummers that can write music”. I named a few, Charlie Benante was the first name I blurted out. He claimed to not be a fan. Needless to say, I didn’t make it past one rehearsal with the band.

You’re featuring a covers album you ask? Especially since I tend to not like them, or make a point to slam bands that cover other bands’ biggest hits. The COVID Pandemic happened, and while a lot of artists fumbled around, or made excuses for not doing anything, Charlie started to release videos of covers he had recorded with some friends.

For example, the video featured below, “Funny Vibes”, was originally recorded by Living Colour, the easy thing to do would have been to just record “Cult Of Personality”. He covered U2, and chose to go with “City Of Blinding Lights”, instead of one of their mega hits. Sure both songs are known to die-hard fans of each band (like myself). But it isn’t the “hey I want radio play, check me out” move that a lot of bands turn to when doing a covers album.

The album also showcases what a talented musician Charlie is. Yes, he’s the drummer on every track, but he’s also playing various of the other instruments on the album. Accompanying him are members of Testament, Suicidal Tendencies, Death Angel, Butcher Babies, Run DMC, Anthrax (of course), and many more. A lot of these songs are really out of the box for a lot of these musicians.

Let’s be honest a lot of metal musicians, successful ones, listen to things outside of metal. So when you see Mark Osegueda singing U2 or Mother Love Bone it will raise more than one eyebrow. What’s he doing singing those songs will change to wow, this sounds really cool with Mark singing those songs. There isn’t one of these where you can say “yeah, that one didn’t work”.

My interpretation of the album’s title Silver Linings is that even though the world was a mess, it presented Charlie with time and opportunity to showcase his talents and provide us with some fun covers that were outside of the norm. While other bands and artist just kind of went through the motions, or became the millionth and one band to cover Pantera’s “Walk”, the initial videos Charlie released gave you enough to want an album with all of the covers he was uploading to YouTube. Some are missing, so who knows if the rest get released at some point.

Charlie Benante’s Silver Linings is a cool example of how an extraordinary musician made the most of a crappy time and made a lot of people happy in the process.