Of all of the individuals to launch a heavy steel album in 2026, few individuals in all probability thought William Shatner would. The extra you concentrate on it, nonetheless, the extra probably it turns into. William Shatner wasn’t solely the legend who starred in Star Trek, he’s additionally the legend who boarded a Blue Origin flight to area on the age of ninety, so he’s probably not averse to going about his retirement a bit of otherwise.
To not point out, he’s Canadian, and Canadians have a aptitude for making an attempt unconventional tasks. Whether or not it’s Ryan Reynolds shopping for Wrexham FC in 2021, or Seth Rogen abruptly changing into a daily on Netflix cooking reveals, it appears there’s one thing within the Canadian water that encourages entertainers to step exterior the anticipated.
Ought to we be stunned that Shatner is each a heavy steel fan and likewise utilizing heavy steel as a car for extra creative exploration? No.
Heavy steel has lengthy been a key style of fashionable music, attracting all types of devoted and informal listeners. But it surely’s additionally been a style eager to transcend its personal borders. Take Avenged Sevenfold as an example, who carried out a VR live performance again in 2024. Their set was carried out of their ‘Hail to the King’ surroundings, giving the viewers a complete new perspective to the band’s dwell present with results and visuals that felt applicable to the style. It wasn’t an interactive expertise, which may nicely be heavy steel’s subsequent innovation, particularly as different sectors incorporate interactive parts into their dwell digital reveals: gamers can interact with sellers at a dwell on line casino in Canada, capable of bridge that digital divide and be social, skilled, and actual at house and in a manufacturing studio.
Shatner, regardless of his space-tending ambitions, has opted for a much less technologically adventurous effort and has as an alternative centered on curating and creating an bold album when it comes to its personnel.
So What Is William Shatner Doing?
So let’s rewind a bit of: what precisely is he doing? In keeping with William Shatner’s X submit, the heavy steel album in query will characteristic 35 steel virtuosos, masking legends like Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, and Judas Priest, alongside some authentic tunes ‘solid in the identical cosmic fireplace’.
He insists it’s not a novelty album, however a real, occasion document constructed round huge guitars and cinematic preparations, and designed to unite a legion of steel’s most revered musicians beneath one imaginative and prescient. Sounds good, proper? Effectively, we hope so…
Will it Sound Good?
Let’s not child ourselves, issues like this have occurred earlier than. Hugh Laurie has launched a blues album, Idris Elba has produced music and DJ’d. Even Christopher Lee launched a number of heavy steel albums in his day. However when actors delve into the world of music, the result’s usually combined. Not for Christopher Lee – he may do no unsuitable. However for actors like Laurie and Elba, and even others like Scarlett Johansson and Lindsay Lohan, there have been whispers of ‘persist with the day job’.
The hope right here is that, as a result of it’s not simply William Shatner, however an array of heavy steel musicians working to convey this imaginative and prescient to life, there’s a great likelihood that the music itself would possibly truly be half respectable.
Even when it isn’t, nonetheless, does it actually matter? We shouldn’t expect innovation and wonders, like when Seraphina Sanan united with Twista to create a mix of steel and rap, or when Coroner unleashed their first album in additional than 30 years again in October.
However as talked about earlier than, Shatner is a Canadian legend. There’s nothing stopping him from cashing in his chips and seeing out his retirement quietly, however he’s selected the alternative. He’s chosen a headbanging various that proves how a lot journey he nonetheless has left in his soul, and reveals a willingness to defy expectations that may solely be applauded.
Certainly, this may very well be the worst album on this planet, and we’d in all probability nonetheless be headbanging away, in awe at the truth that a 94-year-old is liable for it.
To place it bluntly, Shatner is proving how outdated age doesn’t must imply slowing down or taking part in it protected. He’s going boldly the place no 94-year-old has gone earlier than, and for that, all we are able to say is proceed.
