DEEPFAKE
APOCALYPSE DAWN…
THE TOTAL GUI TAR ME TALLICA DEEPFA KE TRACK
How a TG ‘Play like’ track accidentally achieved mythical status amongst Metallica fans the world over...
Interview Chris Bird
Photo Ross Halfin
We know what you’re thinking: ‘What’s a deepfake’? Well, bear with us as we tell you a story that’ll explain all, and why it’s relevant to Total Guitar this month... Back in March 2002, TG printed an edition of the magazine featuring James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett on the cover – though between album cycles, Metallica were a big deal back then, just as they are today. Emblazoned across the cover appeared the words: ‘Play Like Hammett & Hetfield’ –a coverline referring to a lesson written by fresh-faced TG tutor, Steve Allsworth, who had created a four-minute instrumental track in the style of the band entitled Apocalypse Dawn and tabbed it out for readers to learn.
So far, so normal, then. ‘Play like’ lessons are standard guitar lesson fare, and TG has always been jam-packed full of ’em. However, what happened next was not so normal. Fast forward nearly two decades to 2021 and Ukrainian blogger Andriy Vasylenko, a Metallica geek and fansite owner, would contact Steve (who still writes for the mag!), informing him that his track had acquired notoriety online in the mid-2000s. Many had believed it to be a genuine unreleased Metallica studio demo. Others labelled it (perhaps more accurately) a deepfake – an intentional aping of the Metallica sonic likeness.