December 5, 2025

Los Angeles, California: You can’t say you weren’t warned. You can’t hide under the table and complain that nobody told you.  Two weeks you’ve had to get ready for this, and if you’re still unprepared, tough luck. Nuclear Messiah are here, and they’re going to keep coming at you for weeks to come.

And that’s before the album even drops.  Once it gets here, there’s nothing you can do.

Because Nuclear Messiah is more than an album. It’s a living timeline of rock and metal — from the pioneers of the past to the trailblazers of today; an apocalyptic, cinematic masterpiece — a sonic prophecy uniting a staggering line-up of 36 of the most iconic musicians in rock and metal history, representing every era of heavy music, and uniting icons from thrash, classic rock, hard rock, and progressive metal:

We’re letting you off lightly today.  As if anything involving the combined talents of Chris Poland (Megadeth), Alan Davey (Hawkwind) and Vinny Appice (Black Sabbath) could be described as light. And when you add the God of Hell Fire, the almighty Arthur Brown to the brew, and then hand them a Lucifer’s Friend song to play with…

“My first exposure to Lucifer’s Friend was when I first moved to LA in 1977,” says Chris Poland. “I was surprised when I heard we were covering one of their songs.   ‘Ride the Sky’ is such a great song and Arthur’s dramatic vocal style takes it to a whole new place. Especially the last chorus where Arthur really goes for it. And the band follows suit, getting more and more intense right to the end.”

Alan Davey agrees.  He and Arthur have worked together in the past, on the singer’s Monster’s Ball album (also available from Cleopatra Records), and he enthuses, “It’s always fun to work on songs with Arthur and those fiery vocals of his. Doing the bass and synths for this single was a blast!”

The accompanying video only adds to the inferno, as film-makers Fred Aching and Holly West explain. “This track had [us] from the first note, making the video a breeze to create. Chris Poland’s got a masterpiece, and we are proud to help bring it to the screen. With vibrant Arthur Brown moments throughout, it becomes a standout experience for fans—a colorful, psychedelic rush from beginning to end.”

Even more impressively, Chris admits, “With the solid rhythm section of Vinnie and Alan, it is one of my favorite songs we recorded for the Nuclear Messiah project.” And that really is high praise.

Set for release in the new year, Nuclear Messiah offers up an unprecedented gathering of rock and metal royalty, across a thunderous, all-star concept album constructed around Chris Poland’s visionary guitar.

Chris Poland – a Spirit of Sound

“Chris isn’t just a guitarist — he’s a Spirit of Sound,” says Brian Perera, Cleopatra’s founder and the album’s executive producer. “Nuclear Messiah was built around his brilliance and brought to life by an army of legends who share his passion and precision.”

An army indeed! Fellow Megadeth alumni, Marty Friedman, David Ellefson, Glen Drover, Shawn Drover and Chris Adler, plus a stellar cast of other guests: Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal (Guns N’ Roses, Sons of Apollo), Mick Box (Uriah Heep), Joel Hoekstra (Whitesnake, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Night Ranger), Carmine Appice (Vanilla Fudge, Beck, Bogert & Appice, King Kobra), Simon Wright (AC/DC, Dio), Don Airey (Deep Purple, Rainbow, Ozzy Osbourne), Rick Wakeman (Yes), Jonathan Cain (Journey, The Babys), Derek Sherinian (Dream Theater, Sons of Apollo, Black Country Communion), Bob Daisley (Ozzy Osbourne, Rainbow, Gary Moore, Uriah Heep), Phil Soussan (Ozzy Osbourne, Billy Idol, Last in Line), Vinnie Moore (UFO, Alice Cooper), Joe Bouchard (Blue Öyster Cult), Tim “Ripper” Owens (Judas Priest, Iced Earth, Yngwie Malmsteen), Joe Lynn Turner (Rainbow, Deep Purple, Yngwie Malmsteen), Sebastian Bach (Skid Row), Andrew Freeman (Last in Line, Lynch Mob), Marc Lopes (Ross the Boss, Metal Church, Let Us Prey), Pat Travers (Pat Travers Band), Ronnie Romero (Rainbow, Michael Schenker Group, Lords of Black), Lance Lopez (Supersonic Blues Machine, Billy Gibbons), Greg T. Walker (Blackfoot, Lynyrd Skynyrd family), Steve DiGiorgio (Testament, Death, Sadus), Thor (Thor), Fred Aching (Dead Groove, Kings of Thrash, BulletBoys, Powerflo, BillyBio), and Jürgen Engler (Die Krupps).

Maybe you think you can imagine what it sounds like.  Maybe you’ll listen to “Ride The Sky” and say to yourself, “uh huh.” Don’t. Nuclear Messiah isn’t simply louder than the sum of its parts.  It is, quite possibly… nah. Let’s not spoil the surprise.  Just keep your eyes open for a host more singles to come this year, and into 2026 as well. And after that? The countdown starts here.