The Cranberries’ lead singer Dolores O’Riordan died one year ago this week. In memory of their departed band member, The Cranberries’ announced a new album, which will be their final release as a band, along with a new single called “All Over Now.”
Late on Tuesday afternoon, Vic Mensa also took the opportunity to pay homage to O’Riordan. Alongside a new band called 93PUNX, a group designed to provide a backdrop to Mensa’s output that falls outside of hip-hop, Mensa fronts a cover of The Cranberries’ “Zombie.”
The band’s 1994 protest song — it references a 1993 IRA bombing — is repurposed by Mensa and co. to be a slightly more drone-y take on the classic. It’s slowed down, and Mensa’s baritone provides a completely different take on O’Riordan’s original. “We connected to zombie because we were born from violence,” Mensa — who has spent the last few years as a gun reform advocate — wrote in a statement. “RIP Dolores.”