At 94 years old and with his first heavy metal album under his belt, William Shatner is chasing the next age record.
Who would have thought: At the age of 94, William Shatner is starting a new musical adventure – and it’s going to be loud.
Famous as Captain Kirk in “Star Trek,” Shatner has attracted musical attention primarily through his experimental spoken word albums. Now he is venturing into previously unknown territory – his first heavy metal album is coming up. All information here.
From spoken word to “thundering guitars”
Shatner announced his project on Instagram: “I explored space. I explored time. Now I explore distortion.” He also reveals that 35 metal virtuosos, thundering guitars and purposeful chaos will be represented on the album. The record will contain cover versions of Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden and Judas Priest – supplemented by their own pieces.
The impetus for the genre change came from the collaboration with the metal band Nuclear Messiah. William Shatner contributed his voice to an intro for their upcoming album “Black Flame”. In a press release, the actor explained: “This wasn’t just a track – it was a door. It made me want to immerse myself, find the best metal musicians I could and create something fearless.”
A spirit of experimentation with a long history
William Shatner is no stranger to experimental things: previous albums were created together with greats like Joe Jackson and Alice Cooper and combined irony, drama and other musical genre mixtures.
He released his debut album “The Transformed Man” in 1968. The work combined spoken texts, Shakespeare interpretations and idiosyncratic cover versions of well-known songs. In the following decades, further albums were released in different styles. “Ponder the Mystery” followed in 2013, a project with clear progressive rock influences. In 2021 he turned to the blues with “The Blues”.
Captain Kirk turns up the volume
After William Shatner made headlines as the world’s oldest astronaut at the age of 90, he is now setting course for another age record. Will he dethrone 91-year-old Sir Christopher Lee as the oldest heavy metal singer?
However, concrete details about the production, the musicians involved or a release date are still scarce.
