Metal Anarchy

MC5 will be releasing a new album, titled “Heavy Lifting,” on October 18. The effort features guitar and vocals from the late Wayne Kramer, who co-wrote most of the tracks with Brad Brooks, and drums from the late Dennis “Machine Gun” Thompson. It also features contributions from Slash (Guns N’ Roses), Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine, Audioslave), William DuVall (Alice In Chains), Vernon Reid (Living Colour), Don Was, Tim McIlrath (Rise Against), Vicki Randle (Aretha Franklin), Stevie Salas (Rod Stewart, Parliament Funkadelic), Abe Laboriel Jr. (Paul McCartney), Winston Watson Jr. (Bob Dylan), and Joe Berry (M83).

“Heavy Lifting” Track Listing:

01. “Heavy Lifting” (feat. Tom Morello)
02. “Barbarians At The Gate”
03. “Change, No Change”
04. “The Edge Of The Switchblade” (feat. William Duvall and Slash)
05. “Black Boots” (feat. Tim McIIrath)
06. “I Am The Fun” (The Phoney)
07. “Twenty-Five Miles”
08. “Because Of Your Car”
09. “Boys Who Play With Matches”
10. “Blind Eye” (feat. Dennis Thompson)
11. “Can’t Be Found” (feat. Vernon Reid and Dennis Thompson)
12. “Blessed Release”
13. “Hit It Hard” (feat. Joe Berry)

Additional Track Listing (2CD/2LP):

01. “Ramblin’ Rose”
02. “Kick Out The Jams”
03. “Come Together”
04. “Motor City Is Burning”
05. “Borderline”
06. “Gotta Keep Movin’”
07. “Future/Now”
08. “Poison”
09. “Shakin’ Street”
10. “Sister Anne”

Producer Bob Ezrin commented:

“It’s very heavy. It has a revolutionary message but also a good sense of humour. There’s a little bit of heavy metal. There’s quite a bit of funk. But it is a heavy record, and it’s a guitar record left, right and centre. Just a wall of guitars most of the time, and mostly driven by Wayne and his ethos. It’s a snapshot of a guitar man at the height of his powers. We all feel a responsibility to make sure that his work is heard, and he is celebrated. We poured our hearts into the project.”

The album’s first single, “Boys Who Play With Matches,” can be streamed below: