Queen guitar legend Sir Brian May has joined William Shatner’s forthcoming heavy metal album — because apparently Captain Kirk recruiting one of rock’s greatest guitarists is a completely normal thing happening in 2026.
Right.
We’ve officially reached the point where rock news sounds like somebody has been throwing names into a hat after several pints.
William Shatner is making a heavy metal album.
And now Queen’s Brian May is involved.
Yes, really.
The legendary guitarist has become the latest rock heavyweight to join the Star Trek icon’s upcoming venture into the heavier side of music, bringing one of the most recognisable guitar sounds in rock history along for the ride.
Quite frankly, we’re fascinated.
🎸 Brian May Enters The Metal Universe
There aren’t many guitarists whose sound can be identified within seconds, but Brian May absolutely belongs on that list.
Armed with his famous Red Special, May helped create the gigantic, layered guitar sound that became one of Queen’s defining characteristics.
From Stone Cold Crazy and Tie Your Mother Down to Hammer To Fall, Brighton Rock and the utterly enormous solo in Bohemian Rhapsody, Brian has spent more than five decades proving he can make a guitar sound majestic, vicious, orchestral and occasionally like an entire bloody army.
So putting that sound anywhere near a heavy metal William Shatner record?
Yeah.
We’re listening.
🚀 Captain Kirk Goes Heavy Metal
Of course, William Shatner needs very little introduction.
For generations, he’ll forever be Captain James T. Kirk, commander of the USS Enterprise and one of the most recognisable figures in science-fiction history.
But Shatner’s career has never exactly stayed within sensible boundaries.
Actor.
Writer.
Presenter.
Recording artist.
Actual space traveller.
And now, at the age of 95, he’s apparently decided that what the universe really needs is more heavy metal.
Fair play.
There are people thirty years younger who complain when the pub music is a bit loud.
Shatner’s out here assembling a metal album.
🌌 Brian May And William Shatner Are A Strangely Perfect Combination
On paper, the combination might sound bonkers.
Actually, the more you think about it, the more sense it makes.
Both men have spent enormous parts of their lives connected to space.
Shatner played one of science fiction’s most iconic space explorers before eventually travelling to space himself.
May, meanwhile, isn’t merely a bloke from Queen who occasionally enjoys looking through a telescope.
He holds a PhD in astrophysics.
That’s right.
While most rock stars were busy collecting motorcycles and questionable hotel bills, Brian May went and became an actual astrophysicist.
Show-off.
His scientific work has included involvement with space research and asteroid awareness alongside a music career that somehow also found time to involve one of the biggest bands in history.
So Captain Kirk and the astrophysicist guitarist from Queen making heavy music together?
Maybe it really was written in the stars.
Sorry.
We had to.
🤘 Queen Have Always Had A Heavy Side
Anyone surprised to see Brian May involved with something described as heavy metal clearly hasn’t spent enough time digging into Queen’s catalogue.
Queen might be remembered by the wider public for enormous songs such as Don’t Stop Me Now, Radio Ga Ga, Somebody To Love and We Are The Champions, but underneath all the flamboyance was a band capable of getting seriously heavy.
Just stick on Stone Cold Crazy.
Released on Sheer Heart Attack in 1974, the track moves with the sort of frantic aggression that would later become commonplace in thrash metal.
Then there’s the monstrous riff of Tie Your Mother Down, the stomping weight of Hammer To Fall and plenty of moments across Queen’s early catalogue where May’s guitar sounds gloriously filthy.
Brian May might not traditionally be labelled a “metal guitarist”.
But the man absolutely knows how to bring the riffs.
🎤 Shatner Has Never Been Afraid Of A Musical Curveball
The strangest part of this story might be that William Shatner making another adventurous record really isn’t that strange at all.
His musical career has always followed its own peculiar orbit.
Shatner became famous for his dramatic spoken-word approach to songs, delivering performances that sit somewhere between music, theatre and somebody giving an extremely important speech while the band behind him goes absolutely bananas.
It shouldn’t work.
Sometimes it somehow does.
And whether you love it, hate it or simply stare at the speakers trying to understand what’s happening, boring is rarely the word.
Heavy metal potentially gives that theatrical delivery an even bigger playground.
Huge guitars.
Thunderous drums.
Dark atmosphere.
Ridiculous drama.
That’s basically Shatner territory already.
Just louder.
🔥 Imagine That Red Special Through A Wall Of Metal
And this is where things become properly intriguing.
Brian May has one of those guitar tones that doesn’t need an introduction.
You hear it.
You know it.
That singing sustain and layered harmony work helped turn Queen records into these enormous walls of sound.
Now imagine that unmistakable tone dropped into something considerably heavier.
It could be wonderfully dramatic.
It could be completely bonkers.
It could sound like Queen accidentally took a wrong turn into a metal festival while Captain Kirk delivers a monologue from the side of the stage.
Whatever happens, we desperately doubt it’ll be dull.
🖖 From The Enterprise To The Mosh Pit
There is something wonderfully rock ’n’ roll about William Shatner still trying completely unexpected things at 95.
The sensible option would probably be slowing down.
Doing the occasional convention.
Writing another memoir.
Having a nice cup of tea.
Shatner apparently looked at that option and went:
“Nah. Heavy metal.”
Legend.
And recruiting somebody of Brian May’s stature immediately turns the project into something rock fans are going to want to hear.
Maybe out of excitement.
Maybe curiosity.
Maybe because none of us are entirely convinced this timeline is real anymore.
Either way, mission accomplished.
🤘 THE RIFF REPORT VERDICT
We didn’t have Brian May joins Captain Kirk’s heavy metal album on our 2026 bingo card.
But here we are.
And you know what?
We’re completely here for it.
Brian May remains one of rock’s most distinctive musicians, and any opportunity to hear that Red Special doing something unusual gets our attention immediately.
Pair him with William Shatner — one of entertainment’s great eccentric characters — and the potential for something wonderfully over-the-top is enormous.
Rock and metal are at their best when artists occasionally throw the rulebook into a skip and try something nobody expected.
This certainly qualifies.
So fire up the warp drive.
Turn the amps to eleven.
Set phasers to RIFF.
And prepare yourselves.
Captain Kirk is going heavy metal, and he’s brought Brian bloody May with him. 🤘🚀🎸
