Metal Allegiance have set an August 12th release for a new EP titled, “Fallen Heroes“. Interestingly, it appears that Megadeth bassist David Ellefson was seemingly unable to participate in this latest release, and isn’t listed among the musicians involved. Testament‘s Alex Skolnick took on the guitar duties, The Winery Dogs‘s Mike Portnoy handles the drumming, while Mark Menghi laid down the bass.
The EP pays tribute to three fallen musicians who passed away in recent months, including Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister of Motörhead, David Bowie and Glenn Frey of The Eagles. Menghi commented:
“The end of 2015 and most of 2016 has been a brutal year with many of our heroes passing. When Portnoy called me in January to alert me that Glenn Frey had passed, I literally broke down. That night after having a few Tequila Sunrises in Glenn’s honor, a lightbulb went off… We’re going to record a few tunes to honor our fallen heroes. I called back Mike that evening and asked him what he thought and the next day we were in the studio recording.
By weeks end, all guitars, drums and bass were complete. I can’t begin to explain the influence that Glenn Frey, Lemmy, and David Bowie had on me. Each of their music has helped me immensely during some real dark periods of my life and not to mention their influence on me as a musician and songwriter. Lemmy is God, Glenn is King and David is the Architect.”
Skolnick added:
“These brilliant artists have an extensive catalogue that is sometimes on the softer side (with the exception of Motörhead, of course). So when it came to The Eagles & Bowie, we specifically chose tunes of theirs that are riff-based and translatable to high energy arrangements. For Lemmy, we immediately crossed out “Ace Of Spades” (great tune but the last thing the world needs is yet another cover version) and chose “Iron Fist,” which we already had a good handle on from playing live and to us is every bit as much a signature Motörhead tune.”
Menghi and Skolnick handled the production duties for the effort, with Jay Ruston (Anthrax, Stone Sour) taking on the mixing. A number of guest musicians appear on the effort, including Mastodon, etc. bassist/vocalist Troy Sanders, Arch Enemy vocalist Alissa White-Gluz and Death Angel vocalist Mark Osegueda.
01 – “Iron Fist” (Motörhead cover) (feat. Troy Sanders)
02 – “Suffragette City” (David Bowie cover) (feat. Mark Osegueda)
03 – “Life In The Fast Lane” (The Eagles cover) (feat. Alissa White-Gluz)
Comments