Grammy-winning bassist David Ellefson of Megadeth shared a music video for his heavy metal track “Sleeping Giants.” The song features the vocals from Hip-Hop legend Darryl “DMC” McDaniels and record producer Thom Hazaert, who currently runs EMP LABEL GROUP and COMBAT RECORDS with Ellefson.
“Sleeping Giants” is a title track from Ellefson’s solo album of the same name, a heavy thrash metal work that has his instrumental excellence. The music video showcases an unpredictable collaboration between hip-hop and metal artists. DMC makes his appearance in the video by providing his old school New York Hip Hop flavor. McDaniels raps over the beats with a voice that sounds percussive and has rhythmic grunts. Hazaert’s vocals on the track are cathartic with sparks of anger and deep pulses. Tinged with the elements of Ellefson’s bass, all deliver the whole tack in an aggressive, self-assertive style. Check out the “Sleeping Giants” music video below.
Ellefson speaks out on the collaboration, “It was truly an honor to collaborate with DMC, and I think the track came out great. When Thom said DMC wanted to do a collaboration with us, I instantly thought of Sleeping Giants. And when he came out to Revolution in Amityville to perform with us, and shoot the video, it was an awesome energy. I think everyone there got a show they won’t ever forget.”
Hazaert and Ellefson have worked closely before. The duo co-authored Ellefson’s upcoming book MORE LIFE WITH DETH, the long-awaited follow up to the bestselling memoir MY LIFE WITH DETH. Speaking of this track, Hazaert says, “David had all these great instrumental songs laying around, and Sleeping Giants was one of them. He suggested I write and record some vocal parts for them, so I called up DMC and asked if he’d want to collaborate with us on a track, and we got to work.”
Hazaert continues, “I’ve always loved off the wall Metal/Hip-Hop collaborations, Judgement Night etc. And I think Giants definitely draws from that. The song and video both ended up with a really cool aggressive, old-school New York Hardcore/hip-hop feel. In my book, it doesn’t get any more legendary than RUN DMC. And this was definitely one for the history books.”
Ellefson previously released another music video for the album track “Hammer Comes Down.” He also shared the side project, Altitudes & Attitude, with Frank Bello of Anthrax at the beginning of this year. Last year, we sat down with Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine and Ellefson, who spoke out about band life and the reissue of their debut LP, as well as “Massive” New Festival. Check out our interview HERE.
Photo Credit: Marv Watson.
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