Live Long and Rock With Captain Kirk
You know him as William Shatner, the man who steered the USS Enterprise through cosmic chaos as James T. Kirk. But now, at 94, he is plotting a different voyage. This time, the final frontier is heavy metal.
The spark came courtesy of Zakk Wylde, who personally gifted Shatner a guitar. Not a polite Hollywood prop, but a six-string battle axe. The gesture lit a fuse. Add to that a guest spoken word appearance with Chris Poland on a Nuclear Messiah record, and suddenly, the captain had coordinates.
“When Nuclear Messiah came to life, something clicked,” Shatner said. “It wasn’t just a track. It 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.”
Fearless is the operative word. Shatner has announced an as-yet-untitled album featuring 35 metal icons. The names remain under secrecy, but the promise is loud: massive guitars, cinematic arrangements, sharp turns, dark humor, raw emotion, and flashes of unexpected beauty. He insists it is not a novelty album. It is a gathering of forces.
There will be covers of Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, and Iron Maiden, alongside original material forged specifically for this project.
From starship captain to metal ringmaster, Shatner is not dabbling. He is going all in. Klingons may be optional. Heavy metal is not.
Live long and Rock!
Doug O’Brien
