It’s a wonderful thing, when Heavy Metal bands join forces with country rock stars and contemporary rock bands including other music genres. The collaboration between Heavy Metal Band Five Finger Death Punch, Brantley Gilbert, Blues Icon Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Brian May found superb harmony in the cover version. They recorded a special version of ‘Blue on Black’ Brian May’s distinctive sound on his electric guitar is instantly recognizable. “We feel like it’s a multi-dimensional, multi-level effort unifying the different genres,” Gilbert told Billboard.

Perhaps this could be the way forward for different iconic musicians coming from completely different genres, to collaborate and make music magic. Lady GAGA and Andre Bocelli comes to mind. This should happen more often. As it happens, this cover version is for Gary Sinise’s non- profit first responders which managed to bring this talent together. When megastars collaborate it sends out an interesting message to the world, that in fact music is universal and it should never be segregated.

Interestingly enough this ‘Blue on Black’ is 20 years old and the original version has sold over 50 million on-demand streams in the US, and is one of the most-consumed songs on the band’s current album (averaging over 1 million US streams per week). The song features distorted guitars, pummeling percussion and a swaggering chant that marks a surprising outlier on Five Finger Death Punch’s current and seventh studio album, And Justice for None. In the US alone, Five Finger Death Punch have sold 4.5 million albums, 10 million digital songs and over 3 billion streams total. “We had a great run with that song. It was a massive hit for us. That it can still be a massive force to be reckoned with 20 years later is exactly what you want as a songwriter.”

Bathory also explained the band’s decision to work with Sinise’s foundation, “To raise awareness for and support first responders is a cause that’s always been close to our hearts,” he shared in a statement.

When mega stars collaborate for a cause or for the love of music, it sends out a message to the world, that music is and should always be a unifier, just for the love of it.