Crisis Averted: Here’s That Cover of “Nothing Else Matters”

We don’t know how many of you caught the premiere of NBC’s new series Crisis last night, but if you did, then you may well have walked away from the proceedings wondering who was responsible for the haunting version of Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters” that came within an inch of being even creepier than the original.

Say hello to Scala & Kolacny Brothers, a Belgian women’s choir conducted by Stijn Kolacny and arranged and accompanied by Steven Kolacny on piano. Formed in 1996, Scala have actually released five studio albums during the course of their existence, starting with 2002’s On the Rocks, sung entirely in Belgian. (An international version of the album came out in 2005.) While decidedly still more of a cult phenomenon than a mainstream success, they’ve nonetheless had their music spotlighted in several high-profile places, with their cover of Radiohead’s “Creep” earning prominent placement in the trailer for 2010’s The Social Network, their covers of the Police’s “Every Breath You Take” and U2’s “With or Without You” finding their way into trailers for Downton Abbey, and their take on Marilyn Manson’s “The Beautiful People” in TV spots for “Beautiful Creatures.”

“Nothing Else Matters” leads off Scala & Kolacny Brothers’ self-titled 2011 release, an album which also features the choir’s take on songs by Peter Gabriel (“Solsbury Hill”), Oasis (“Champagne Supernova”), Depeche Mode (“I Feel You”), and Nirvana (“Smells Like Teen Spirit”). Listening to it might send chills up and down your spine, but we promise you that it’s in the best way possible.