Metal has always had a strange, fertile relationship with dark pop. Give the right band a synthpop anthem, a cold new wave classic, or a post-punk lament, and the result can feel less like a novelty cover and more like a hidden second form the song was always capable of taking.
That is especially true when the original already carries some kind of shadow inside it: longing, isolation, dread, erotic tension, urban melancholy, or pure theatrical cool. Metal does not have to invent those feelings. It just exaggerates them, sharpens them, and sometimes drags them into a heavier emotional weather system.
This list brings together 18 of the strongest examples of that crossover instinct — songs from the darkwave, synthpop, and new wave orbit that metal bands reimagined in ways that feel moody, forceful, and sometimes surprisingly natural. Depeche Mode understandably loom large here, but so do Joy Division, The Cure, Bronski Beat, a-ha, Visage, Pet Shop Boys, and more.
The Best Darkwave, Synthpop and New Wave Songs Covered in Metal Ranked
1. Lacuna Coil – Enjoy the Silence (Depeche Mode cover)
Depeche Mode released “Enjoy the Silence” in 1990, and Lacuna Coil later turned it into one of the most widely recognized metal covers of the modern gothic era when they included it on Karmacode in 2006.
It is the obvious number one because almost everything about the pairing makes sense. The original is already elegant, haunted, and emotionally suspended in amber; Lacuna Coil simply add more body to it. The song never loses its stillness, but the atmosphere gets thicker, colder, and more sensuous. This is exactly what a great metal cover of dark pop should do: keep the soul of the original intact while changing the climate around it.
2. Paradise Lost – Small Town Boy (Bronski Beat cover)
Bronski Beat first released “Smalltown Boy” in 1984, and Paradise Lost recorded their version for Symbol of Life in 2002.
Few covers in this lane feel as emotionally inevitable as this one. Paradise Lost do not overpower the song; they lower its temperature and let its loneliness expand. The original already carried alienation and ache in enormous amounts, but the heavier treatment makes it feel even more bruised. It also helps that Paradise Lost understand melancholy better than most bands on the planet. They do not treat the song like retro material. They treat it like something still bleeding.
3. Moonspell – Love Will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division cover)
Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart” emerged in 1980, and Moonspell later folded it into the Sin/Pecado era, where it fit surprisingly well beside the band’s darkly romantic late-90s aesthetic.
What makes Moonspell’s take work is that they never try to “fix” the song. They know it is already iconic and already broken in all the right places. Instead, they steep it in more velvet darkness and let the emotional fatalism bloom. It ends up feeling less detached than the Joy Division original and more decadent, which is exactly the kind of subtle shift that makes a cover worth keeping around.
4. Behemoth feat. Niklas Kvarforth – A Forest (The Cure cover)
The Cure released “A Forest” in 1980, and Behemoth issued their version — featuring Niklas Kvarforth — in 2020.
This is one of the boldest entries on the list because Behemoth do not come from the “darkwave friendly” side of metal. They come in with weight, ritual, and menace, and yet the song survives completely. That says a lot about the original and almost as much about the cover. Instead of losing the hypnotic quality that made “A Forest” immortal, this version turns it into something more feral and feverish. It does not erase the mist — it sets something moving inside it.
5. Crematory – Black Celebration (Depeche Mode cover)
Depeche Mode first released “Black Celebration” in 1986, and Crematory brought it into gothic metal territory on Infinity in 2010.
Some songs practically ask for a heavier reinterpretation, and “Black Celebration” is one of them. The title alone sounds like it belongs on a metal setlist. Crematory lean into that instinct without flattening the original’s elegant morbidity. The result feels bigger and more ceremonial, with the underlying sense of glamour and decay still intact. It is also one of the clearest reminders in this article that Depeche Mode’s catalog has long been one of metal’s most reliable outside suppliers.
6. Samael – I Feel You (Depeche Mode cover)
Depeche Mode released “I Feel You” in 1993, and Samael recorded their version for the 2005 On Earth EP.
This cover works because Samael understand that “I Feel You” was already one of Depeche Mode’s most physical songs. It always had a carnal, scorched quality to it, and a band with one foot in industrial heaviness can amplify that without breaking the song. Samael do exactly that. Their take is harder, more metallic, and more machine-driven, but it never loses the fever running underneath the original. It sounds like the same pulse, only fed through rougher circuitry.
7. In Flames – Everything Counts (Depeche Mode cover)
Depeche Mode originally released “Everything Counts” in 1983, and In Flames put their cover on Whoracle in 1997.
This is a great example of a band not choosing the most obvious Depeche Mode song and still getting the result exactly right. “Everything Counts” has always had a sly, sharp social bite beneath the melody, and In Flames convert that tension into something more openly aggressive. The melodic-death frame gives the song a different shape, but the hook remains resilient. That combination of riff pressure and pop durability is exactly why this kind of crossover keeps working.
8. Theatre of Tragedy – Decades (Joy Division cover)
Joy Division’s “Decades” dates back to 1980, and Theatre of Tragedy recorded their version for A Rose for the Dead in 1997.
Unlike some of the heavier or more dramatic entries here, this one succeeds through atmosphere and patience. Theatre of Tragedy do not rush the song or push it too hard. They let its bleak grandeur breathe. That is a smart choice, because “Decades” is one of those tracks that can collapse if a band mistakes solemnity for depth. Here it stays spacious, glacial, and mournful. The cover does not try to outdo Joy Division — it extends the song’s shadow.
9. Cradle of Filth – No Time to Cry (The Sisters of Mercy cover)
The Sisters of Mercy first released “No Time to Cry” in 1985, and Cradle of Filth issued their version in 2001.
This is where the list gets more theatrical without losing the darkwave thread. Cradle of Filth take a song already loaded with goth credibility and blow it up into something more decadent and vampiric. The trick is that they never abandon the hook. Even under all the extra drama, the structure holds. It is gloriously excessive, but not random. In another band’s hands this could have turned camp in the wrong way. Here it feels like committed gothic excess, which is exactly what you want.
10. Atrocity – Fade to Grey (Visage cover)
Visage’s “Fade to Grey” arrived in 1980, and Atrocity recorded their version in 2008.
Few songs are as purely “new wave atmosphere” as this one. That makes it a dangerous cover choice: get it wrong, and the whole thing becomes either lifeless or overworked. Atrocity manage to avoid both traps. Their version keeps the song’s cool electronic melancholy but threads it through a darker, heavier framework. It never loses the elegant chill that made the original so magnetic. Instead, it feels as if that chill has been given sharper edges and a more gothic afterglow.
11. The Dreamside – Walking in My Shoes (Depeche Mode cover)
Depeche Mode released “Walking in My Shoes” in 1993, and The Dreamside later recorded it for Sorrow Bearing Tree in 2014.
This is one of the moodiest covers in the whole article. The Dreamside do not approach the song from a brute-force metal angle; they treat it like a piece of dark emotional theater. That ends up being the right move. “Walking in My Shoes” already carried guilt, gravity, and spiritual weariness in the original, and this version widens that into something more dreamlike and spectral. It is less about impact than immersion, which gives the list an important change of texture at exactly the right point.
12. To/Die/For – In the Heat of the Night (Sandra cover)
Sandra released “In the Heat of the Night” in 1985, and To/Die/For later folded it into their own catalog as one of their signature 80s-pop-to-goth-metal transformations.
This is one of those covers that sounds almost too natural once you hear it. To/Die/For had that particular Finnish gift for turning glossy melancholy into something romantic and nocturnal, and Sandra’s original gives them exactly the right material. The song keeps its melodic immediacy, but everything around it becomes darker and more wistful. It is not an especially radical cover, but it is a beautifully fitting one — and that can matter just as much.
13. Susperia – The Sun Always Shines on TV (a-ha cover)
a-ha first released “The Sun Always Shines on TV” in 1985, and Susperia put their version on the Devil May Care EP in 2005.
This is a great pick because it avoids the more obvious a-ha route and goes for one of their grandest songs instead. The original was already huge, emotionally windswept, and richer than people sometimes remember. Susperia capitalize on that scale. Their version does not chase irony or novelty. It goes straight for force and gloom, turning a dramatic synth-pop classic into something darker and more storm-lashed. That seriousness is what keeps it from feeling like a stunt.
14. Pain – Behind the Wheel (Depeche Mode cover)
Depeche Mode released “Behind the Wheel” in 1987, and Pain later reworked it during the band’s late-2000s special-edition cycle.
If any band on this list was built to translate Depeche Mode into an industrial-metal frame, it was Pain. The original already drove forward with hard, controlled momentum; the cover simply gives that momentum a meaner engine. It feels less romantic than some of the other Depeche Mode entries here, but that is the point. This version is all movement, pulse, and chrome-plated pressure. It is one of the most physically satisfying tracks in the ranking.
15. Mnemic – Wild Boys (Duran Duran cover)
Duran Duran released “The Wild Boys” in 1984, and Mnemic recorded their version for The Audio Injected Soul in 2004.
This one works because the original was already halfway feral. Duran Duran built it as a hit, but also as a spectacle — all chrome, heat, and post-apocalyptic gloss. Mnemic take that exaggeration and drive it through a far more metallic system. The result is intense without losing the song’s sense of scale and motion. It is a slightly less obvious fit than the Depeche Mode or Joy Division entries, but it earns its place by sounding genuinely alive rather than merely clever.
16. Mortemia feat. Zora Cock – What Else Is There? (Röyksopp cover)
Röyksopp released “What Else Is There?” in 2005, and Mortemia’s version with Zora Cock arrived in 2022.
This is the newest-feeling song in the article, and one of the few entries that leans more toward 2000s electronic darkness than classic 80s new wave. It still belongs because the emotional architecture is similar: longing, distance, and a sense of beautiful coldness. Mortemia sharpen that with gothic-metal weight and let the chorus bloom into something larger and more dramatic. It is less canonical than the upper tier of the list, but as a late addition to this tradition, it fits surprisingly well.
17. Sunterra – Out of the Dark (Falco cover)
Falco’s “Out of the Dark” was released posthumously in 1998, and Sunterra later included their cover on Lost Time in 2002.
This is one of the most underrated choices in the whole ranking. The original already carried a strange late-night melancholy, and Sunterra understand that the song does not need to be overpowered to become heavier. They let the mood do most of the work. The cover feels nocturnal, mournful, and slightly unreal in exactly the right way. It may not have the instant name recognition of Depeche Mode or Joy Division, but in terms of atmosphere it absolutely belongs here.
18. Finntroll – Can You Forgive Her? (Pet Shop Boys cover)
Pet Shop Boys first released “Can You Forgive Her?” in 1993, and Finntroll recorded their version for the limited edition of Nifelvind in 2011.
This is the strangest and loosest fit on the list, which is exactly why it is a good closer. Finntroll bring a trollish, crooked energy to a song that was never supposed to live anywhere near folk-black absurdity. And yet it somehow works. The original’s nervous pop momentum survives, but the emotional tone shifts from urban unease to something more mischievous and unruly. It is not the purest darkwave/new-wave pick here, but it is one of the most memorable collisions.
The best metal covers of darkwave, synthpop, and new wave songs do not erase what made those originals special. They expose a different side of them. Sometimes that means revealing how much darkness was already hiding inside a pop melody. Sometimes it means proving that a cold electronic classic can survive distortion, harsher vocals, and far more physical weight than anyone expected.
That is why this kind of crossover keeps lasting. Songs like “Enjoy the Silence,” “Smalltown Boy,” “Love Will Tear Us Apart,” and “A Forest” were never fragile to begin with. They were strong enough to survive translation. Metal just gave them another language.
If you enjoyed this ranking, also check out our guides to the 15 Best Rock and Metal Covers of Pop Songs of All Time, the 15 Best Female-Fronted Rock and Metal Covers of All Time, and more handpicked articles in our Lists section.
