Roadrunner United was a project organized by iconic hard rock record label Roadrunner Records to celebrate its 25th anniversary, culminating in the US Billboard Top 200, UK Albums, and Australian ARIA Albums-charting original The All Star Sessions. Four "team captains" (Slipknot's Joey Jordison, Machine Head's Robb Flynn, Fear Factory's Dino Cazares, and Trivium's Matthew K. Heafy) were chosen to lead 57 artists from 45 past and present Roadrunner bands. It was truly a heavy metal family affair - and then some.
The release was labeled "a testament to Roadrunner's far-reaching impact on the genre" by MTV. Because that's exactly what it was.
Additionally, on December 15, 2005, a concert celebrating the project, album, and anniversary took place at the Nokia Theater in New York City. That star-studded event featured multiple musicians, both past and present, from Roadrunner bands - as well as musicians that did not originally perform on the All-Star Sessions album.
The set list consisted of some of the most popular and famous songs released by Roadrunner Records, as well as some of the original songs from the project's album. The "core band," which performed on the majority of the songs, consisted of the aforementioned Cazares (Fear Factory), Adam Duce (Machine Head), the late Paul Gray (Slipknot), the late Joey Jordison (Slipknot, Murderdolls), Andreas Kisser (Sepultura), and Roy Mayorga (Hellyeah, Stone Sour).
Now, both the original All-Star Sessions album and the concert performance itself will be made widely available in multiple configurations on March 10, 2023. Pre-orders for the concert album, which will be available on vinyl, CD, digitally, and presented in HD for the first time, are now live.
Watch Trivium perform "Pull Harder On The Strings Of Your Martyr" with Machine Head frontman, Robb Flynn:
"The Roadrunner United album was something I still have a hard time believing that it happened," says Heafy, who served as the youngest songwriting captain on the album. "A 19-year-old me being enlisted to be able to write anything I wanted… while picking a dream lineup of my favorite musicians every single every song? I am still honored and grateful to have been allowed this amazing experience. All I can say is… I want to do Part II."
Flynn reflected on his participation as a captain, saying, "I had a couple of riffs left over from [2004 Machine Head album] Through the Ashes of Empires that I hadn't ended up using, so brought them into play first-off for Roadrunner United. The song that really kicked it off for me was 'The Dagger.' I was like, 'Man, this is a f--king banger. I don't know if I even want to give this away!’'I actually told the label, 'If you can lock in Howard [Jones] from Killswitch Engage to do the vocals, you can have it. Otherwise, I'm keeping it for Machine Head!' We had so much fun when Howard flew in to record that song at my studio. He only had about three sentences of lyrics prepared, so we spent hours talking over what the song could be about, and then he freestyled a bunch. I remember him getting up, walking into the vocal booth, and just belting out this f--king insane scream, this screech! It became the sound that opens the whole record."
That moment caused a wave of songs to come flooding through for Flynn and further inspired his creativity on songs and the iconic Machine Head album that came after — 2007's The Blackening. He even stated that working with different artists for Roadrunner United "really opened my mind to all these possibilities."
All details about each configuration of the live concert album and original CD are below.
Roadrunner United: The Concert (Live At The Nokia Theatre, New York,Ny, 12/15/2005) Vinyl:
We have opened the vault to bring to you for the first time on vinyl Roadrunner United The Concert (Live at the Nokia Theatre, New York, NY, 12/15/2005), featuring members of Slipknot, Anthrax, Trivium, Machine Head, Fear Factory, Sepultura, and more. Roadrunner United was a project organized by the heavy metal record label Roadrunner Records to celebrate its 25th anniversary. On December 15, 2005, in New York City. Roadrunner Records produced the metal concert to end all Metal Concerts: 39 musicians, representing 25 different Roadrunner bands, performed 25 songs from 19 different bands' repertoires. This unique and unprecedented aggregation of musicians was no jam session. Each song was studiously rehearsed and arranged, coming together with exuberant perfection, to produce a concert that can only be called legendary and iconic!
Conceived as a follow-up to the Roadrunner United The All-Star Sessions, the label recruited the core team of musicians (Dino Cazares, Adam Duce, Paul Gray, Joey Jordison, Andreas Kisser, and Roy Mayorga) as the backbone of the performance. Sure enough, as they fine-tuned the songs and rehearsed them tirelessly, dozens of other musicians boarded the performance.
This 3-LP set represents the gathering of a community of musicians that spans the heavy metal history of the first 25 years of Roadrunner Records — from King Diamond to Slipknot and beyond. Those who were lucky enough to be there experienced a night they will never forget. For the first time as a live concert album, this 3-LP set on red, white, and black-colored vinyl is a chance to relive that special night again and again. The concert will also be available digitally. It is also presented in HD for the first time ever.
Tracklisting:
Side A:
Biohazard' - "Punishment"
Madball - "Set It Off"
Stormtroopers of Death - "March of The S.O.D."
Life of Agony - "River Runs Red"
Obituary - "The End Complete"
Side B:
Mercyful Fate - "Curse pf The Pharaohs"
King Diamond ''Abigail”
Annihilator - "Alison Hell"
Deicide - "Dead By Dawn"
Side C:
Trivium - "Pull Harder On The Strings Of Your Martyr"
Killswitch Engage - "My Last Serenade"
Chimaira - Pure Hatred"
Fear Factory - "Replica"
Side D:
Type O Negative - "Black No. 1"
Roadrunner United - Tired ‘N Lonely"
Stone Sour - "Brother"
Roadrunner United - "The Rich Man"
Side E:
Roadrunner United - "The Dagger"
Roadrunner United - "The End"
Soulfly - "Eye For An Eye"
Sepultura - "Refuse/Resist"
Side F:
Slipknot - "Surfacing"
Machine Head - "Davidian"
Slipknot - "(sic)"
Sepultura - "Roots Bloody Roots"
Musicians: Steve Asheim, Matt Baumbach, Cory Beaulieu, Glen Benton, Rob Caggiano, Keith Caputo, Dino Cazares, Mike D’Antonio, Phil Demmel, Adam Duce, Brian Fair, Robb Flynn, Justin Foley, Paul Gray, Billy Graziadei, Paolo Gregoletto, Matthew K. Heafy, Andols Herrick, Scott Ian, Jamey Jasta, Howard Jones, Joey Jordison, Andreas Kisser, Jesse Leach, Logan Mader, Roy Mayorga, James Murphy, Tim “Ripper” Owens, Nadja Peulen, Evan Seinfeld, Acey Slade, Travis Smith, Joel Stroetzel, Corey Taylor, Ville Valo, Tommy Vext, Jeff Waters, Jordan Whelan, Tim Williams
Roadrunner United: The Concert (Live At The Nokia Theatre, New York, NY, 12/15/2005) CD:
This 2-CD set represents the gathering of a community of musicians that spans the heavy metal history of the first 25 years of Roadrunner Records — from King Diamond to Slipknot and beyond. Those who were lucky enough to be there experienced a night they will never forget. For the first time as a live concert album, this 2-CD set is a chance to relive that special night again and again.
Roadrunner United: The All-Star Sessions CD:
Roadrunner United was a project organized by the heavy metal record label Roadrunner Records to celebrate its 25th anniversary. It culminated in an album released worldwide on October 11, 2005, entitled The All-Star Sessions. Four "team captains" were chosen to lead 57 artists from 45 past and present Roadrunner bands, and produce and oversee the album's 18 tracks: Joey Jordison, Dino Cazares, Robb Flynn, and Matt Heafy. The 18 tracks are back in print for a limited time to celebrate four decades of Roadrunner Records' mark on the metal world.
The All-Star Sessions tracklisting:
"The Dagger"
"The Enemy"
"Annihilation by the Hands of God"
"In the Fire"
"The End"
"Tired 'n Lonely"
"Independent (Voice of the Voiceless)"
"Dawn of a Golden Age"
"The Rich Man"
"No Way Out"
"Baptized in the Redemption"
"Roads"
"Blood & Flames"
"Constitution Down"
"I Don't Wanna Be (A Superhero)"
"Army of the Sun"
"No Más Control"
"Enemy of the State"
