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![[face]](/hs-pics/portraits/faces/mcbride2.jpg)
Beam us up, Scotty
The latest album from William Shatner has been announced, and it is promised to be “a heavy metal extravaganza powered a veritable army of metal stars – each one personally selected and hand-picked by Shatner”. Said stars include Ritchie Blackmore, Zakk Wylde, Edgar Froese (Tangerine Dream), Wayne Kramer (MC5), and Henry Rollins (Black Flag, The Rollins Band). The album is due some time later this year, and the information released so far is rich on marketing fluff, but short on details that are promised to be revealed “soon”.
Shatner says:
Metal has always been a place where imagination gets loud. This album is a gathering of forces – each artist bringing their fire, their precision, their chaos. I chose them because they have something to say, and because metal demands honesty.
I’ve spent a lifetime exploring in both reality and fiction. Now I am stepping out into the unknown once again with my new project in heavy metal. I am covering Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden as well as a number of new songs written by my team. The whole project is destined for this year. I hope you will join me in the exploration.
This is not the first collaboration of Shatner with Blackmore — the two crossed paths on Shatner’s 2020 album The Blues, recording a cover of The Thrill Is Gone.
[Update Feb 20]: Different sources disagree on the degree of Blackmore’s actual participation in the new project. Compare the quote from Metal Hammer:
As well as Wylde – who’s known for his longtime membership of Ozzy Osbourne’s solo band and as the frontman of Black Label Society – and former Black Flag man Rollins, the album will feature Ritchie Blackmore (Rainbow, ex-Deep Purple), Edgar Froese (Tangerine Dream) and Wayne Kramer (MC5).
With one from BraveWords, that implies those collaborations were well in the past:
Zakk Wylde (Ozzy Osbourne), Ritchie Blackmore, Edgar Froese (Tangerine Dream), Wayne Kramer (MC5), Henry Rollins (Black Flag, The Rollins Band) have all recorded with the legend. Indeed, Shatner’s history of defying expectations is well documented, and his music has long lived in the space where spoken-word intensity meets cinematic atmosphere. This new album raises the stakes even higher: more artists, more distortion, more drama – and a heavier impact.
We’ll know when further details are released.
Thanks to BraveWords and Georgius Novicianus for the heads-up.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
😱the horror, the horror.
February 20th, 2026 at 06:18There are those Aliens again……………..Ritchie’s hat is the connection to the cosmos………….a hidden antennae……..
February 20th, 2026 at 07:27Beam me up indeed………..I had better get a Hawkwind album out I think……Sonic Attack perhaps. Cheers.
Wayne Kramer died in 2024 and Edgar Froese in 2015. How long has this album been in the making?
February 20th, 2026 at 08:59It’s actually their third collaboration. We shall not forget their joint Space Oddity in 2011…
February 20th, 2026 at 12:06Entry to Captain‘s Log U.S.S. Enterprise: Instrumental version (with vocals deleted) strongly recommended for release to avoid planetary disturbance. Do you copy?
February 20th, 2026 at 12:57I think it’s a lot of fun.
February 20th, 2026 at 14:29Not just because I’m sharing his birthdate, March 22nd (not the year though).
Could be Gillan in 14 years 😮
“We shall not forget their joint Space Oddity in 2011 …”
Come to think of it, we certainly should, young Padawan!
https://media2.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTZjMDliOTUyeWpyMW85anV2djFlYnBid2U1ZGg2aDVva2g0ejBweTcxZjhmb3ljbyZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/33iqmp5ATXT5m/giphy.gif
February 20th, 2026 at 16:43https://media.tenor.com/_MnGroqJVzMAAAAM/william-shatner-shocked.gif
February 20th, 2026 at 17:24Any speculation on what Sabs, Priest & Maiden songs he’ll butcher oops cover and what Ritchie will be on?
February 20th, 2026 at 19:20@4 Ahhh… the benefits of education….I didn’t have to mention it myself.
February 20th, 2026 at 21:50@3: I have a feeling it’s all leftovers from the earlier sessions? I don’t think RB would do sessions like this these days.
February 21st, 2026 at 00:26Shatner is about to turn 95. I couldn’t imagine him singing at that age, but then again he couldn’t sing when he was a little younger than that either. Tony Bennett was still singing at that age, but he was an experienced vocalist, not a narrator waffling on. Cheers.
February 21st, 2026 at 02:45Yes, Max, you taught your son jede Menge useless trivia! 🤣
February 21st, 2026 at 06:17“I couldn’t imagine him singing …”
When I imagine him singing, it’s usually just one of my nightmares.
February 21st, 2026 at 13:46And vice versa, Uwe. We might conder making a living from it.
February 21st, 2026 at 14:02Sorry Admin and Ladies & Gentlemen in here, but is this post a joke 😃
As far as I know the only thing I have learned from Star Trek is how dangerous is can be to play with superglue (hence the strange hand signal 😄)
William Shatner….. oh my 🫣
February 22nd, 2026 at 08:54Let’s give Captain Kirk some civil rights credit: His kiss with his communications officer Uhura was the first scripted interracial kiss on US TV and happened in late 1968 only one year after a US Supreme Court ruling had rendered individual States’ laws barring interracial marriages unconstitutional.
https://i0.wp.com/jerz.setonhill.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/kirk-uhura-kiss.gif?fit=320%2C214&ssl=1
February 22nd, 2026 at 18:09Karin’s jokes are a never-ending source of wonderment about humanoid peculiarities.
https://media0.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTZjMDliOTUya2pjbW1ub3J5dWxpNWo4eTY5c2J6aGlocmtoNnRtbDA4bDQ3MDJpayZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/S2whkd4LyloiI/200.gif
February 22nd, 2026 at 23:56But Karin, the man has a cult-like following. And he sure is one of a kind. RB did already contribute to his recordings. And though we have to admit that he isn’t exactly a singer his stuff can be fun if you want it to be. Be that as it may – he is an interesting gentleman.
February 23rd, 2026 at 09:19I remember Pat Boone releasing a “metal” album 30 years ago that featured RB as well as RJD amongst others. Actually saw him in concert, it was a strange mix of his 50s hits, gospel and hard rock. Gotta wonder what Shatner’s album in gonna sound like.
February 23rd, 2026 at 09:47And let’s not forget the Riff Meister and the Dark Lord Christopher Lee. All that is metal from Lee with his ode to the genre. Cheers.
https://www.loudersound.com/features/christopher-lee-tony-iommi-interview
February 23rd, 2026 at 11:15@18 & 19
Al right Gentlemen I withdraw my sentiments ☺️
How sincere I nevertheless feel about music Max, and especially about RB, that interesting gentleman will not end up in my fire safe box with my beloved recordings of everything Purple! (Psst, tell me: did Ian G also contribute to WS? Because if he did, then there are some life choices I have to reevaluate 🫣)
And Uwe, I don’t mind pointy ears nor do I get scared of fingers stuck together…. But that voice of WS combined with Metal 😁 ohh my!
Let me, dear Sirs enjoy your, presumably not pointy ears, to this lovely piece of camaraderie into the glorious world of Purple:
https://youtu.be/2g8MZ_5rup4?si=-QYis26cb2teXRtM
And of course I know the both of you have opinions galore regarding that night, but that was something else, wasn’t it?
‘Hush’ – with the splendid voice belonging to my favourite vocalist is honey in my ears 😍 wait a minute, maybe it is indeed Nutella!
Yes, I know the voices aren’t that loud. So let me instead link to this masterpiece:
https://youtu.be/u1kZ9zYr7kk?si=7xDNrC0WEO_4CZpL
Woah mamma! 😃
February 23rd, 2026 at 11:37Surely he’s going to cover;
(Space) Invader from Stained Class
February 23rd, 2026 at 15:15Moonchild from Seventh Son of a…
Planet Caravan from Paranoid
1. I find William’s work across all his manifold artistic domains fairly consistent: Did his singing really ever dip significantly below his skills as an actor? Who else could convincingly document the attack on a giant spacecraft in outer space with as much professionally executed minimalism as he did with his legendary elegant sideways swerve in the Captain’s chair? 😎
https://i.imgur.com/EiUl29c.gif
2. Karin asked:
And of course I know the both of you have opinions galore regarding that night, but that was something else, wasn’t it?
Steve’s shirt on the RRHoF night was a sartorial highlight, true. Très chic, who say he doesn’t have it in him?
And I forgive Karin for comparing Ian Gillan’s voice to a sugary spread consisting mostly of environmentally debated palm oil. 😂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Tifnd6h76I (palm oil content at 06:20)
I’m sure she meant well – and who doesn’t like Nutella?
February 23rd, 2026 at 16:35@24
Oh boy! You’re right….
Nutella isn’t that healthy 🫣
What I meant was: Ian’s voice is like a chocolate spread ☺️
February 23rd, 2026 at 20:26I don’t mind these guys from the film side of the entertainment realm enjoying a sojourn into popular music and hard rock slash heavy metal. Why not, it doesn’t matter in the long run, it’s all enjoyment for them and some folk out there would dig it no doubt. They don’t have to be musicians for me to appreciate them doing it either. No matter how anyone looks at it, it is them paying their respect and that is a positive. Cheers.
February 23rd, 2026 at 21:13What is this latest fetish of Uwe Hornung’s, tonsil chasing it is referred to by some. Highlighting Ian Paice with his wife in that documentary from the Paice, Ashton and Lord dvd. Now Star Trek and Captain Kirk with his sidekick Uhura. Who’s next? Where is this going to end? It is most probably something Uwe initially observed back in his youth while ‘working’ as a disc jockey in those nightclubs in Hamburg. What else are you going to do while you are waiting for the next song to appear on the turntable? Stay tuned for another exciting episode folks.
February 23rd, 2026 at 21:24I have first one, is funny album to listen🤣
February 24th, 2026 at 13:18What fetish?
https://64.media.tumblr.com/5587ab819217655551176571b9e44461/tumblr_mmhkq3DTyz1s3774fo1_500.gifv
What a raspberry of a movie that was! 🤣 John Travolta‘s own Scientology vanity project Battlefield Earth.
February 24th, 2026 at 23:46