Professionally filmed video of METAL ALLEGIANCE — the all-star metal band consisting of a rotating cast of musicians, including core members David Ellefson (MEGADETH),Mark Menghi (KING ULTRAMEGA),Alex Skolnick (TESTAMENT) and Mike Portnoy (DREAM THEATER) — performing its latest single, “Black Horizon”, on January 22 at the House Of Blues in Anaheim, California can be seen below. Joining the “core four” members at the gig were a number of guest musicians, including Chuck Billy (TESTAMENT),John Bush (ex-ANTHRAX, ARMORED SAINT),Doc Coyle (ex-BAD WOLVES, GOD FORBID),William DuVall (ALICE IN CHAINS),Jack Gibson (EXODUS),Gary Holt (SLAYER, EXODUS),Phil Demmel (KERRY KING, ex-MACHINE HEAD),Andreas Kisser (SEPULTURA),Alissa White-Gluz (ARCH ENEMY) and Troy Sanders (MASTODON).
Earlier this month, METAL ALLEGIANCE released the studio version of “Black Horizon”, via Reigning Phoenix Music (RPM). The band’s first release of original music since 2018, the song features roaring opening riffs from guitarist Alex Skolnick and DuVall‘s ominous howls, painting an apocalyptic scene. Menghi on bass and Portnoy on drums keep the dread looming low in the sky, ready to explode with ferocity at any moment. Systems fail, shadows fall, and the doomed cry for salvation in this desolate world. Gloomy, minimalistic verses bookend thunderous choruses, chronicling a desperate flight for survival.
Menghi commented: “Who would have thought we’d be here 12 years later with new MA music? Very excited to have one of my favorite vocalists from one of my favorite bands on the first new MA music in 8+ years, which opens up a new era for MA. As the saying goes, you can’t kill what doesn’t die.”
DuVall chimed in: “I was pleasantly surprised and absolutely honored to be asked to contribute to this song and I’m very happy with the result.”
Skolnick said: “This song is a gift from the ghost of MA past. It’s salvaged from a stockpile of riffs we’d started long ago but never quite finished. Now, in combination with a first time voice for the band — the great William Duvall — we are pleased to announce a brand new track, forged from what once was, here to kick off a new era. Check it out!”
Portnoy added: “After having recording these drum tracks some time ago, I’m stoked that they finally get to see the light of day! Thanks to William for finishing it up for us and welcome to the MA family! \m/”
In a recent interview with BLABBERMOUTH.NET, William stated about his collaboration with METAL ALLEGIANCE: “I think it is a nice kind of departure. It’s the kind of thing that presents a welcome challenge. I’m not going to write anything like that. There’s definitely some stuff Alex Skolnick can do on the guitar that’s not part of my thing, but even if I were to write some of the riffs like that, that’s just not where my particular focus lies, even if I were able to do some of it. It’s not where I want to go. It’s really great when you get something where, ‘This is where those guys want to go.’ Then I can just say, ‘Well, yes, send the music.’ Then they send it, and I’m able to listen, and I react as a listener first, but then, as a writer and put on the writing cap, so to speak. That kind of music puts me in a similar mindset as the GIRAFFE TONGUE ORCHESTRA, where all this stuff is happening. There is a lot of information coming at you, and there are a lot of shifts in tone and mood, just even within one song. It puts you in this mindset where I have to write myself a role to play in this.”
Asked if he was surprised to get the call to do it, William said: “I was pleasantly surprised to get the call. It came out of nowhere, even though I had a little bit of communication with Mark Menghi beforehand. It was a surprise. It was like, ‘Oh, wow. Okay. Would I like to do a song with them?’ They sent it, and I was like, ‘Oh, okay!’ What was interesting was that they sent the music, and immediately the title ‘Black Horizon’ came to mind. Then, the narrative, this sort of kernel of the narrative, came to mind almost right away. The music, again, conveyed this idea of movement, and that made me think of a journey. At the time, there was all this stuff going on every other week about some new rocket launch and ‘We’re going to Mars. We’re going to colonize Mars!’ I was like, ‘Well, okay. Whether that happens or not, it put me in the mindset of ‘What might the journey of the first civilizations to colonize Mars be like?’ Not astronauts, not pilots, not trained military personnel, just regular people. The first regular people to take that trip, and that’s kind of what set me off on that path. Then, taking that narrative of possibility and putting words and melody to it. That took a bit more time. The initial idea came quickly but fleshing it out took a bit more time. The music presents all of these challenges, and you want to rise to the challenge as a singer. It’s almost like writing myself a role, then acting it. That’s what it was like for GTO and ‘Black Horizon’.”
Beginning as a celebration of the metal genre, METAL ALLEGIANCE has forged a legacy all their own while collaborating with metal’s most revered trailblazers. With two albums of original music and an EP, the supergroup proves that legends never die, and can even reinvent themselves.
METAL ALLEGIANCE “Black Horizon” recording lineup:
Alex Skolnick – Guitar
Mark Menghi – Bass
Mike Portnoy – Drums
William DuVall – Vocals
Josh Wilbur – Mixing, Mastering
A year ago, Skolnick told Metal Insider about how he first got involved with METAL ALLEGIANCE: “I had bumped into Mark [Menghi] once or twice. He had worked in the music manufacturing world but with none of the companies I was connected with. Mike Portnoy I would run into at events and concerts but did not know him well. I didn’t know David that well either, but in his case, we had been on tours together before. So I wouldn’t have predicted this, but it made sense that we all hit it off as we are all very open-minded musically; we all like to write and play not in just one style. I’ve been doing projects outside my band back when it was not so cool to do so, and even Portnoy, he has had a reputation in being in many different bands with different styles, but it just makes a lot of sense on that level and also the fact that we don’t have other members that are too close outside of METAL ALLEGIANCE. For example, any MEGADETH guitarist (in the core group) would have overshadowed it being METAL ALLEGIANCE if you had half of MEGADETH. Or if you had John Petrucci, it then becomes a DREAM THEATER side project so not having those associations made us a logical combination.”
Regarding the METAL ALLEGIANCE live shows, Skolnick said: “It’s really caught on over the years and it’s developed its own fan base. You never used to see this in the old days. Occasionally you we see a ‘one off’ tribute project like Chris Cornell and Eddie Vedder in a project paying tribute to Andrew Wood and then there were some charity concerts back in the ’70s with George Harrison who would get people from different groups. I also remember there was [Jimmy] Page, [Jeff] Beck and [Eric] Clapton on tour together, but now it is not uncommon to have folks from many different groups to play together. But if I can toot my own horn, it is pretty rare to have one like this [METAL ALLEGIANCE] — which is a very well-run live show which we pride ourselves in.”
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source blabbermouth.net ’
