William Shatner says his heavy metal album “is gonna be a major thing”

In an interview with Fox News, 95-year-old “Star Trek” icon William Shatner discussed his forthcoming hard rock and heavy metal album titled “What The F Is Heavy Metal?”, which is tentatively scheduled for release in 2027 through Cleopatra Records. The project is spearheaded by a prominent production team led by Adam Hamilton, known for his work with L.A. Guns and Brian Jonestown Massacre, along with Brian Perera, president of Cleopatra Records. Additional production contributions come from Derek Hughes of Nuclear Messiah, Marcus Nand, and Jürgen Engler of Die Krupps.

The album will feature guest performances by numerous notable musicians, including Brian May of Queen, Rob Halford of Judas Priest, John Moyer of Disturbed, and Dave Lombardo of Slayer. Shatner previewed several tracks from “What The F Is Heavy Metal?” with his newly formed heavy metal band, The *uckers, during the Riot Fest held on September 20 at Chicago’s Douglass Park. During the performance at Riot Fest, Shatner performed six songs from the album, comprising three original compositions co-written with his longtime collaborator Rob Sharenow and three cover versions. The covers included Metallica’s “Enter Sandman,” Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train,” and Motörhead’s “Ace Of Spades.“

Shatner shared how the idea for the album came.

So, the label Cleopatra said to me about six months ago, ‘Why don’t we do a heavy metal album?’ And I said, ‘What the fuck heavy metal?’ And that’s the title of the album, ‘What The F Is Heavy Metal?’ So we wrote, Rob and I wrote. They said, ‘Let’s do six originals and six cover songs.’ So we wrote six songs for the album, and I laid down my tracks. So we’ve got one number in the album that’s gonna be out in the wintertime called ‘What The F Is Heavy Metal?’

So, all of a sudden, 50 — I’m told — 50 heavy metal musicians all volunteered to be on this album, and so we’ve got 50, plus the five that [make up] the band that was put together for me by much more knowledgeable — anybody with any knowledge [about heavy metal] is much more knowledgeable than I [am] — put together five musicians to go, ’cause I got an invitation from Riot Fest to do a concert, do a set. How do you do heavy metal? Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. So they put together a group of fabulous musicians. We call ourselves The *uckers, for ‘What The F Is Heavy Metal?’ — we’re The *uckers, a band. And we went to Riot Fest last [month], and [it] was a huge success. Huge. I mean, they were cheering, and the reviews and people. So it proved to me the viability of ‘What The F Is Heavy Metal?’, the album that has been laid down, actually.

I’m going in in a week or so to listen to all the songs that — now all the tracks, including my scratch track, is down. So, in effect, the album has been made, but I’m going in in a week or two to listen to it to see how much of an adjustment in my performance I need to do with these musicians who are playing in an area that I really don’t know. And I wanna see if my performance needs to be adjusted to their tempo and the meaning of the heavy metal. So, that’s what’s going to happen. This is gonna be a major thing in heavy metal, will be this ‘What The F IS Heavy Metal?’, with 50 of the greatest people, including Brian May, is on the album.