It might take 44 covers, but satire late-night show Two Minutes to Late Night finally gathered some artists to cover the classic rock song “Hold The Line” by Toto. The cover comes a month after the show’s hardcore cover of Pixies’ classic “Where is My Mind?” According to Stereogum, Host Gwarsenio Hall invited several metal musicians to join in on the 45th cover song of the show, and what a lineup it is.

On the vocals is Protest The Hero frontman Rody Walker. Shredding on the guitars are Alex Skolnick of Testament  and Devin Shidaker of the deathcore band Acacia Strain. On bass is Samantha Mobley, who usually plays in the Texan death metal group Frozen Soul, and on the drums is In Flames current drummer Tanner Wayne. Shearwater‘s Emily Lee is back on the show and rocks out on the piano.

Watch the energetic cover below:

The original Toto song is often sadly overlooked when talking about the band’s legacy, “Africa” is just way too catchy and hard to overpower. Yet, “Hold The Line” is still a classic tune, or bop, as the cool kids would say. Because the song is already a rock song, getting a decent metal cover was about time. The video shows everyone involved in their own private environments. The clip also features multiple short sequences of classic movies and shows, for example, Will Ferrell’s Step Brothers and the comedy animation Family Guy. Maybe one more highlight in the video is “Courtney the Cat” in a tiny sailor hat. Yes, the cat received their deserved credit in the video description.

The song just by itself features a well-done guitar solo by Skolnick, which might be even better than in the original. Like on the other covers done by Two Minutes to Late Night, the song reflects how much the artists involved enjoyed doing the project. They all take the assignment serious enough to deliver fantastic performance but show how much fun they can have while doing so.

While “Hold The Line” and “Where is My Mind?” are one of the most recent covers, the show obviously had more to offer. The show recently melted “The Touch” from Transformers and Van Halen’s “Jump.” Other famous songs that got a metal make over include “Jane” by Jefferson Starship, the iconic “I Would Die 4 U” by legendary Prince and  “Dancing in The Dark” by Bruce Springsteen received a hardcore reimagining. Björk’s “Hyperballad” was covered by members of Deftones, In Flames, Killswitch Engage and more in May. The showed rocked the covers of “Rocks Off” by The Rolling Stones, Pantera’s “Mouth of War,” Anthrax’s ode to the pit “Caught in the Mosh” and a masterful Brian Eno medley. Members of War on Women, Converge and more created a “half industrial, half hardcore” cover of Samhain’s “Mother of Mercy.” In November 2020, the show released a legendary cover of Annie Lenox’ “Walking on Broken Glass,” Thin Lizzy’s “Emerald” and reworked Journey’s “Of A Lifetime.”

Other covers of 2020 include King Diamond’s “No Presents for Christmas,” Iron Maiden’s “Dead Man’s Party,” “Spooky” by Dusty Springfield, Ozzy Osbourne’s “Over the Mountain,” “Halloween II” by Misfits, Alice In Chain’s “Rain When I Die,” Fleetwood Mac’s “You Make Loving Fun,” another Thin Lizzy cover, “Honey,” Billy Idol’s classic “Rebel Yell,” “Be My Druidess” by Type 0 Negative, The Replacement’s “Kids Don’t Follow,” The Mistfits’ “Earth AD,” “Anthem” by Rush, Faith No More’s “Everything’s Ruined,” “Something to Talk About” by Bonnie Raitt, Tom Petty’s “Running Down A Dream,” Bruce Springsteen’s “Candy’s Room,” “The Warrior” by Patti Smith, Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill,” “Dirty Black Summer” and “Snakes of Christ” by Danzig, White Zombie’s “Super-Charger Heaven,” “Riff Raff” by AC/DC, Boston’s “Foreplay/ Longtime” and “Dare To Be Stupid” by “Weird” Al.

Photo Credit: Ekaterina Gorbacheva