UPCOMING METTAL EP PAYS TRIBUTE TO ICONS OF THRASH METAL
WITH NEW TRACKS MADE FAMOUS BY METALLICA,
MEGADETH AND SLAYER
U.S. HEADLINE TOUR NOW UNDERWAYMETTAL EP ARRIVES RECORD STORE DAY, BLACK FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29
Acclaimed guitar virtuosos Rodrigo y Gabriela have unveiled a spectacular new version of the Metallica classic, “Battery,” which will be featured on the duo’s upcoming METTAL EP, due from ATO Records on Black Friday, November 29, as a one-sided 12” vinyl Record Store Day First release, limited to 2,500 and available only at independent record stores. Side 2 will have an art etching. This companion EP to their latest full-length, METTALVOLUTION, sees Rodrigo Sanchez and Gabriela Quintero paying tribute to the icons of thrash metal with three previously unreleased covers, shedding light on some of their favorite foundational songs. Along with “Battery,” METTAL EP includes stunning new versions of Megadeth’s “Holy War” and Slayer’s epic “Seasons In The Abyss.” All three tracks were produced and recorded by Sanchez in Oslo, Norway and finished at the duo’s own Lumbini Studio in Ixtapa, Zihuatenejo, Mexico. METTAL EP was mixed by Jim Monti (Slipknot, Metallica, KoRN) and then mastered by GRAMMY Award-winner Ted Jensen (Bring Me The Horizon, Disturbed, Halestorm) at Sterling Sound, Nashville.
“It’s no secret that we love Metallica,” says Sanchez. “Master
Of Puppets changed everything for us when we first heard it all
those years ago.”
“We’ve played parts of ‘Battery’ in our live set for many years,” says Quintero. “We’re so happy to release our studio version in full for our fans. Thank you to the fans for coming with us on this trip, and eternal gratitude to Metallica for the incredible music.”
LISTEN TO “BATTERY
Rodrigo y Gabriela have long proclaimed the powerful influence of
metal on their own groundbreaking music, including a rendition of Metallica’s
“Orion” found on their now-classic self-titled second album from 2006. The
track was later named by Loudwire among the top 5 on its “10 Very
Diverse Covers of Metallica Songs – Ranked,” writing, “Having long admitted the
influence heavy metal has had on their music, it’s no surprise that Rodrigo y
Gabriela decided to pay their respects to Metallica…Their stunning take on
Cliff Burton’s bass-heavy track from MASTER OF PUPPETS will forever
shine as their crowning nod to ‘Tallica.”
What’s more, Rodrigo y Gabriela’s triumphant 2014 headline concert
at Morrison, CO’s famed Red Rocks Amphitheatre saw them joined on stage by none
other than Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo for an unprecedented “Metallica Medley“ comprising “Orion,” “For Whom The Bell Tolls,”
“The Frayed Ends of Sanity,” and “Battery.” The performance has since proven a
viral favorite, earning more than 1 million individual views via the official
Rodrigo y Gabriela YouTube channel.
2019 has already seen Rodrigo y Gabriela make a spectacular chart
debut with their acclaimed new album, METTAVOLUTION, available nowvia ATO Records. The
duo’s fifth studio LP and first album in five years, METTAVOLUTION
entered Billboard’s “Americana/Folk Albums” chart at #1 with 1st
week equivalents in excess of 11,000 – Rodrigo y Gabriela’s second best sales
week ever. In addition, the new album arrived at #2 on Billboard’s “Rock
Albums,” as well as #10 on “Top Album Sales” and #71 on the overall SoundScan/Billboard
200.
METTAVOLUTION
also earned critical acclaim to match its popular success. “For Rodrigo y
Gabriela, the meditation is actually in the swirl of notes and rhythmic strums
that circle around their music,” wrote NPR’s First Listen. “And if we
follow their lead, there is a meditative quality for the listener as well. METTAVOLUTION
closes with a 19-minute version of ‘Echoes,’ Pink Floyd’s rock masterpiece
famously performed live in an ancient Roman amphitheater in Pompeii, Italy.
Like its masterful catalog, Rodrigo y Gabriela gives the music new life with
just two guitars.” “METTAVOLUTION finds the duo locked back in,” wrote Glide,
“and where their last record was dedicated to their influences, this time it is
all about the visceral primal passion of playing and what originally connected
them to music. The title track opener kicks a rock beat behind the guitar
strums as the producer David Sardy loads up the bass, shaker and voice synths
to propel the sound forward.” Pitchfork praised the album’s original
material, writing, “The crunching ‘Terracentric’ and the blurrily agile lines
on ‘Witness Tree’ move like hand-cranked cars on a slotted track, wound up by
Rodrigo y Gabriela’s extremely athletic wrists and then turned loose. The dance
break ‘Cumbé’ and its slower-breathing follower ‘Electric Soul’ simmer down a
bit and lay out their chemistry more simply, to warmer and more pleasant
effect, but the dominant energy in part one is fast, heavy, and relentlessly
precise… METTAVOLUTION reassures that for as long as they’re around,
Rodrigo y Gabriela will be echoing their influences as only they can.”
Rodrigo y Gabriela celebrated the album’s arrival with a spectacular performance of METTAVOLUTION’s title track and first official single, “Mettavolution,” on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!, featuring exclusive choreography by Annie-B Parson (David Byrne, David Bowie, Laurie Anderson). “The duo are joined by a group of six dancers holding matching guitars who move in motion to the past-paced, lyric-free instrumentals,” wrote Rolling Stone. “As the musicians play faster and faster, the dancers leave their guitars behind and perform a choreographed dance behind the two. As the track comes to a climax, a several singer rise in the audience to intone alongside the quick-fire acoustic riffs.”
WATCH “METTAVOLUTION” ON JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE!
METTAVOLUTION
marks the most ambitious music of Rodrigo y Gabriela’s remarkable two-decade
career. Three years in the making, the LP embraces the duo’s passionate
interest in Buddhism, the history of human evolution, and the liberation of the
potential we have as a species, all expressed through the medium of two
acoustic guitars. Conceived and composed in their studio in Ixtapa on the
Mexican Pacific Coast, the music of METTAVOLUTION was road-tested around
the world on tour in 2017 and 2018 before being recorded late last year in Los
Angeles with multiple GRAMMY-winning producer Dave Sardy (Oasis, LCD
Soundsystem, A Perfect Circle, Band of Horses) behind the board.
METTAVOLUTION
gathers six white-hot new Rodrigo y Gabriela compositions – much of which
acknowledge the duo’s thrash metal roots back in Mexico City – as well as an
inspired, side-long cover of Pink Floyd’s sprawling “Echoes” – originally found
on 1971’s MEDDLE – audaciously reimagined for two acoustic guitars. Rolling
Stone recently hailed the 19-minute epic as a “Song You Need to Know,”
noting, “(‘Echoes’) is such a signature song, it’s hard to imagine anyone else
doing it justice, yet somehow the Mexican acoustic-rock duo Rodrigo y Gabriela
landed on a brilliant interpretation… Like the original, the song is its own
journey, and it’s beautiful.” “(Rodrigo y Gabriela) make (‘Echoes’) entirely
their own,” wrote NPR Music, “turning the original version’s extended
psych-jam and terrifying atmospherics into percussive knocks on their guitars
and strings and other strange, tactile effects. It only gets better and more
breathtaking the deeper you get into the track.”
With career album sales now in excess of 1.5
million worldwide, Rodrigo y Gabriela have undoubtedly established themselves
as the planet’s preeminent acoustic guitar duo, earning international acclaim
and a fervent fan following with their awe-inspiring mastery of their
instruments as well as a truly distinctive approach to melody, energy, and
rhythm.
