{"id":486372,"date":"2026-02-19T23:29:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T23:29:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/486372\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T23:29:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T23:29:08","slug":"william-shatner-to-release-metal-album-featuring-35-handpicked-musicians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/486372\/","title":{"rendered":"William Shatner to Release Metal Album Featuring 35 Handpicked Musicians"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/consequence.net\/tag\/william-shatner\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">William Shatner<\/a> has announced the upcoming release of a new metal album featuring \u201c35 handpicked metal icons.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The 94-year-old Star Trek star, known for his dramatic spoken-word style, revealed that he\u2019ll be covering Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden on the as-yet-untitled album, which also includes original material penned by his \u201cteam\u201d of musicians.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe whole project is destined for this year,\u201d Shatner said in a press release issued by Cleopatra Records. \u201cI hope you will join me in the exploration.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Few details were revealed beyond that, though Shatner did discuss the project\u2019s origin: a one-off spoken-word intro piece for Nuclear Messiah, the metal supergroup helmed by ex-Megadeth axeman Chris Poland. The experience was apparently so inspiring, Shatner set out to create a full-blown metal album of his own.<\/p>\n<p>Related Video<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen Nuclear Messiah came to life, something clicked,\u201d Shatner said. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t just a track \u2014\u00a0it was a doorway. It made me want to go all the way in, bring in the best metal players I could find, and create something fearless.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Elsewhere in the press announcement, Shatner mused: \u201cMetal has always been a place where imagination gets loud. This album is a gathering of forces \u2014\u00a0each artist bringing their fire, their precision, their chaos. I chose them because they have something to say, and because metal demands honesty.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Shatner has previous experience working with metal\/heavy-music artists such as Zakk Wylde, Ritchie Blackmore, Wayne Kramer, Henry Rollins, and Michael Schenker. In fact, it was a gifted guitar from Wylde that served as \u201cdeeply motivating\u201d gesture in regards to this unexpected new musical direction.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve spent a lifetime exploring in both reality and fiction,\u201d Shatner said. \u201cNow I am stepping out into the unknown once again with my new project in heavy metal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Additional album details \u2014 including title, tracklist, release date, lead single, and the full roster of featured artists \u2014\u00a0will be revealed soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"William Shatner has announced the upcoming release of a new metal album featuring \u201c35 handpicked metal icons.\u201d The&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":486373,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[49,48,75,341],"class_list":["post-486372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=486372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486372\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/486373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=486372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=486372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=486372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}