How’s this for some Metal Magic? Early Pantera vocalist Terry Glaze has teamed-up with current and former members of Fu Manchu, Dark Funeral and Pentagram to deliver vintage metal heft as Axe Dragger. The supergroup’s first swing of the blade is a self-titled anthem.
A press release explains that Axe Dragger began as a long-distance project between Fu Manchu’s Bob Balch and ex-Pentagram percussionist Pete Campbell, who began crafting cuts inspired by metal legends including Riot, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Dio and Armored Saint. Eventually, they brought Glaze and Dark Funeral bassist Fredrik Isaksson into the mix.
“Axe Dragger” is an old-school chunking, arpeggiated stomp that Glaze, well, glazes with tough-yet-operatic wails about stealing souls and bringing down foes with a “wicked blade.”
“This was the first song we wrote,” Balch explains in a statement. “When drummer Minnesota Pete Campbell reached out to me about collaborating on a metal record, those riffs came out of me moments later. The song pretty much wrote itself.
“ I thought Terry Glaze would sound great on it, so we sent it over to him. When we both heard the vocals and lyrics, we knew we had something special,” he continues, adding, “I mean—he sings the words “heavy metal” in the first verse! That song lit a fire under all of us and ended up spawning the entire record.”
Axe Dragger’s 10-song self-titled LP was mixed by Brian Scheuble (Mötley Crüe, Whitesnake, Stone Temple Pilots, Nine Inch Nails) and mastered by Dave Collins (Metallica, Soundgarden).
You can sample the first single up above, while the collection comes out in full March 6th via Ripple Music. Pre-orders for CDs and cassettes can be found here.
Axe Dragger tracklisting:
Axe Dragger
Give You the Rope
Fight Another Day
Iron Rider
Eat Me from the Inside
Shock ‘Em Dead
El Toro
The Damned Will Cry
Fire in the Madhouse
Death Is Calling My Name