Allegiance

Metal Allegiance burst onto the scene in 2015 with one of the strongest debut metal albums in years. It’s even more impressive when you consider that Metal Allegiance are a collaboration, a metal super-group comprised of some of the busiest and most decorated musicians in the genre. David Ellefson (MEGADETH), Alex Skolnick (TESTAMENT), Mike Portnoy (SONS OF APOLLO, ex-DREAM THEATER, et al.) and Mark Menghi comprise the core four, and are joined by a laundry list of metal legends both new and old…

METAL ALLEGIANCE principal partner Mark Menghi, the project’s original material came together from the creative minds of David Ellefson of MEGADETH, Mike Portnoy of THE WINERY DOGS,and Alex Skolnick from TESTAMENT, alongside Menghi. The four writers then reached out through their metal phone books to a diverse lineup of performers, each adding their own personal musical stamp to the collection of nine original songs.

Metal Allegiance are a collective of well-known metal musicians who have jammed together at live events over the past few years. Now, they have released their self-titled debut album. The core of the band is made up of bassist David Ellefson (Megadeth), drummer Mike Portnoy (Winery Dogs), guitarist Alex Skolnick (Testament) and Mark Menghi. Skolnick and Portnoy are on every song on the album, and Ellefson appears on all but one. The rest of the lineup is a rotating all-star cast. The liner notes for the METAL ALLEGIANCE album read like a massive chunk of a heavy metal encyclopedia, with contributions from past and present members of MEGADETH, TESTAMENT, DREAM THEATER, LAMB OF GOD, SLAYER, EXODUS, MASTODON, PANTERA, TRIVIUM, KINGS X, HATEBREED, SEPULTURA, MACHINE HEAD, ANTHRAX, LACUNA COIL, THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN, PERIPHERY, DEATH ANGEL, JUDAS PRIEST, ICED EARTH, and ARCH ENEMY. Live incarnations of METAL ALLEGIANCE have seen guest appearances from Geezer Butler (BLACK SABBATH), Phil Campbell and Mikkey Dee (MOTÖRHEAD), Wolfgang Van Halen (VAN HALEN), Steve Vai and Billy Sheehan.

The Japanese Popstars actually hail from Northern Ireland, where they have fast become a proud fixture of the UK's vibrant nu-electro scene, earning praise from legendary British dance authority MixMag who called them…"the most exciting new electronic act on the planet"…

This is the follow-up to his 1990 hit Howard Hewett. For this, Hewett split the production duties between Tommy LiPluma, Narada Michael Walden, Barry Mann, Nick Martinelli, and himself. One would think that he would get lost in this, but the opposite becomes true. While on the surface this seems like a by-the-numbers effort, with its unearthly momentum, Allegiance is an oddly fascinating record. Hewett is a little intense to pull off the insouciant loverman act as "Save Your Sex for Me" and the Prince-penned "Allegiance" proves. What Hewett is great at is melodic and hooky R&B/pop, and once Allegiance gets going it really doesn't stop. The best Walden productions, "Can We Try Again" and "Can't Get Over Your Love," have Hewett subtly attaining the sensuality he was begging for a few songs earlier. LiPluma places Hewett in the "sounds like a classic" pop-based direction and he gets to the point even faster.