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Sir Christopher Lee, a grandfather of cinema known for his roles in such fantasy film series as Dracula, Lord of the Rings, and Star Wars, has celebrated his 92nd year on earth by releasing another heavy metal album, titled Metal Knight.
The album, which interestingly is not Sir Lee’s first foray into metal, was recorded with Italian band Rhapsody of Fire. It contains seven tracks, including a heavy metal version of the Frank Sinatra classic My Way and two cover versions of numbers from the musical Man of La Mancha, about Don Quixote.
“Don Quixote is the most metal fictional character that I know. Here is a very old man full of daring, bravery, courage, determination, romanticism and dreams,” Sir Lee said in a video uploaded last week teasing the album. “Single-handed, he is trying to change the world, regardless of any personal consequences. It is a wonderful character to sing.”
A classically trained singer, Lee’s first symphonic metal album, Charlemagne: By the Sword and the Cross, was released in 2010. Since then, he released a follow-up, the even heavier Charlemagne: The Omens of Death, along with two Christmas metal albums. One track from that record, Jingle Hell, went on to chart on the Billboard 100 last Christmas, making him the oldest living performer, at age 91, to earn this distinction.
“I associate heavy metal with fantasy because of the tremendous power that the music delivers,” Sir Lee said. A prolific actor, known for his appearances as Dracula as well as string of other villains such as Bond baddie Scaramanga in The Man With The Golden Gun, Saruman in Lord Of The Rings, and Count Dooku in the Star Wars prequels, was awarded the “Spirt of Metal” award at a Heavy Metal awards night in 2010.
Sir Christopher Lee’s Metal Knight is available in iTunes right now.
Watch: Christopher Lee talks Metal Knight
