Whole Lotta Love Reborn: A Modern Metal Explosion

NOAPOLOGY’s take on “Whole Lotta Love” sits at the crossroads of faithful homage and modern hard-rock muscle. First introduced to their audience during the years they worked widely as a cover act, the song now exists in their catalogue in both studio and live form, allowing listeners to hear how the band translates Zeppelin’s swagger into their own vocabulary while keeping the signature riff, dynamic swells, and vocal fireworks front and center.

The group performing it under the NOAPOLOGY banner is the Kyiv, Ukraine outfit formerly known as Sershen & Zaritskaya—founded by guitarist-producer Sergey Sershen and vocalist Daria Zaritskaya, later joined by drummer Dmitry Kim and bassist Alex Shturmak. Their official pages consistently list that core lineup and explain the rebrand from a cover duo into a full original-music band, giving helpful context for why long-time followers may find the song credited under both names.

To understand why their version resonates, it helps to remember the stature of the original. Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love” arrived in 1969 and became the band’s only U.S. Top-10 single, peaking at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. Built around Jimmy Page’s hulking E-major riff and studio trickery that included tape echo and the famous middle-section freak-out, it’s one of hard rock’s canonical recordings and a perennial benchmark for any cover.

As arrangers, NOAPOLOGY lean into the tune’s blues-rock chassis but emphasize contrast: taut verses that spotlight a commanding lead vocal, and choruses that push the rhythm section forward with a denser guitar tone than classic late-’60s crunch. The breakdown becomes less of a psychedelic excursion and more of a tension-builder, setting up a final chorus and outro where the band’s precision and weight supply the catharsis in place of studio-era experimentalism.

A key entry in their discography is the officially released live version, “Whole Lotta Love (live),” included on the collection Covers Vol. II (2020–2022). The track dates to February 2022, situating the performance within the period when the group was transitioning identities and broadening distribution beyond YouTube.

Equally important is how the song appears among their early-era studio covers. On Covers Vol. I (2017–2019)—a retrospective assembled under the NOAPOLOGY name—“Whole Lotta Love” is presented alongside staples like “Back in Black” and “Livin’ on a Prayer.” The credits on that set underscore the in-house, guitarist-led production approach that has become a band hallmark.

Lineup clarity matters because the chemistry is audible. Daria Zaritskaya carries the melody with a gritty, elastic attack; Sergey Sershen’s guitars supply both riff fidelity and modern heft; Alex Shturmak locks the bottom end to Dmitry Kim’s punchy drum figures. That four-piece configuration helps explain the tightness and arranged-but-alive feel the cover projects on both studio and stage recordings.

Production is central to their identity. Even when they started primarily as a YouTube cover unit, Sershen handled recording and mixing in a way that framed Zaritskaya’s vocal power without masking the rhythm section. Later credits on the Covers series reinforce that producer-guitarist vantage point, a practical through-line that keeps their Zeppelin interpretation cohesive across different releases and platforms.

There’s also a larger narrative: after years of covers, the band pivoted to original material and adopted the NOAPOLOGY name around 2022, a shift they linked to the upheavals of the war in Ukraine and a desire to channel their audience into new creative work. That timeline places “Whole Lotta Love” as a legacy track that still anchors live sets and streaming compilations while the group builds a catalogue of self-written songs.

Their channel and playlists continue to surface the performance for new listeners. Playlists labeled with the Sershen & Zaritskaya era include “Whole Lotta Love” among their best-known clips, ensuring the cover’s discoverability regardless of whether a viewer arrives via the older name or the current NOAPOLOGY branding. This continuity across listings is an understated but effective way of keeping the track in circulation.

Distribution has expanded beyond social video. A “Provided to YouTube” entry lists a live version delivered via digital aggregators, evidence that the band works with standard pipelines to reach major platforms. That matters for a cover of this profile: reliable metadata and distribution let the performance live alongside official releases and high-profile versions by other artists in search results and recommendations.

Musically, what separates this reading from many bar-band Zepp tributes is dynamic control. Verses sit slightly under the original’s temperature, letting the voice do the heavy lifting; the choruses bring a wall-of-sound guitar texture more aligned with contemporary hard rock; and the final vamp lands squarely on precision rather than chaos. It’s a design that respects the skeleton of Page’s riff while re-voicing the musculature for modern ears.

Vocal interpretation is a second pillar. Rather than mimic Robert Plant’s high-wire, melismatic flare, the singer aims for a darker timbre with saturated mids and controlled grit, shifting the song’s center of gravity downward. That choice interacts well with the band’s thicker guitar and bass tone, creating a composite sound that feels heavy without becoming sludge, and urgent without rushing the groove that makes the riff swing.

Contextually, the band’s steady rise from a cover channel to a touring and recording act with originals gives “Whole Lotta Love” a double life: it’s both a calling card and a bridge. New listeners who encounter the track as an algorithmic recommendation can move easily into newer singles and full-band projects, while long-time followers hear how the group has refined attack, tone, and mix strategies across years of releases and lineup stability.

Finally, the song’s presence across compilations and live releases signals durability. In a catalogue that now includes multiple cover volumes and an expanding slate of originals, “Whole Lotta Love” endures because it suits what the band does best—turning classic rock architecture into a current, high-impact statement—while giving listeners a familiar anchor to appreciate their arranging instincts and production craft. It’s a smart, audience-first way to honor Zeppelin while sounding unmistakably like themselves.

As an alternative take, you can also check out A Whole Lotta Love – Led Zeppelin Cover by Missioned Souls.