Metal Allegiance, a project comprised of heavy metal all-stars, announced on Tuesday that it has signed with Nuclear Blast Entertainment and will release its debut album in the fall.
The core members for the album are Metal Allegiance principal partner Mark Menghi, Megadeth bassist Dave Ellefson, Testament guitarist Alex Skolnick and Mike Portnoy, the drummer with The Winery Dogs also known for a slew of current and past projects, including Dream Theater, Avenged Sevenfold and Adrenaline Mob.
After Menghi, Ellefson, Skolnick and Portnoy composed the material that makes up the debut record, "the four writers then reached out through their metal rolodexes to a diverse lineup of performers, each adding their own personal musical stamp to the collection of 9 original songs," according to a press release, which adds that details about those performers and individual track lineups will be shared in the near future.
Metal Allegiance came to be in 2011 and has featured a revolving lineup of some of heavy metal's most beloved figures, including Pantera's Philip Anselmo and Rex Brown; Anthrax's Joey Belladonna, Frank Bello, Charlie Benante and Scott Ian; Gary Holt, Kerry King and Dave Lombardo of Slayer; Chuck Billy of Testament; Troy Sanders of Mastodon; and Andreas Kisser of Sepultura. Metal Allegiance has also brought to the stage surprise guests like Geezer Butler of Black Sabbath; Phil Campbell and Mikkey Dee of Motorhead; guitar legend Steve Vai; and bass wizard Billy Sheehan, of The Winery Dogs and Mr. Big.
Metalheads will have to wait a while to hear the new Metal Allegiance material, but until then you can check out this video of the group covering the Metallica classic "Seek and Destroy," posted by Mike Portnoy himself.
