Roadrunner United Is Getting An Extensive Reissue

Roadrunner United was a landmark moment in heavy culture, and Roadrunner Records are celebrating it with a new reissue in various forms.

Roadrunner United was, and still is , one of the most special, unique and triumphant things that a metal label have ever put together.

A bringing together of talents on an unprecedented scale, it was a session, an album and a concert unlike any other.

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 in an ultimate display of metal creativity.

Then it all culminated in a concert unlike any other that featured performances of newly written songs from the sessions, alongside an array of classics from across the Roadrunner discography.

It was amazing, and it is being celebrated all these years later with a reissue of various formats.

But first, here’s what Matt Heafy had to say about being involved:

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 line-up of my favourite musicians every single every song? I am still honoured and grateful to have been allowed this amazing experience. All I can say is… I want to do Part II.”

And here’s what Robb Flynn remembers:

“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.”

Here’s ‘The End’ performed live on that night:


The concert will be released on 3xLP vinyl as well as CD, which will be released on March 10.

That looks like this:


And the tracklisting like this:

SIDE A:

01. Biohazard’ // “Punishment”
02. Madball // “Set It Off”
03. Stormtroopers Of Death // “March Of The S.O.D.”
04. Life Of Agony // “River Runs Red”
05. Obituary // “The End Complete”

SIDE B:

01. Mercyful Fate // “Curse Of The Pharaohs”
02. King Diamond ”Abigail”
03. Annihilator // “Alison Hell”
04. Deicide // “Dead By Dawn”

SIDE C:

01. Trivium // “Pull Harder On The Strings Of Your Martyr”
02. Killswitch Engage // “My Last Serenade”
03. Chimaira // Pure Hatred”
04. Fear Factory // “Replica”

SIDE D:

01. Type O Negative // “Black No. 1”
02. Roadrunner United // Tired ‘N Lonely”
03. Stone Sour // “Brother”
04. Roadrunner United // “The Rich Man”

SIDE E:

01. Roadrunner United // “The Dagger”
02. Roadrunner United // “The End”
03. Soulfly // “Eye For An Eye”
04. Sepultura // “Refuse/Resist”

SIDE F:

01. Slipknot // “Surfacing”
02. Machine Head // “Davidian”
03. Slipknot // “(sic)”
04. Sepultura // “Roots Bloody Roots”

And the sessions available on CD.

That looks like this:

And the tracklisting like this:

01. The Dagger
02. The Enemy
03. Annihilation By The Hands of God
04. In The Fire
05. The End
06. Tired ‘N Lonely
07. Independent (Voice Of The Voiceless)
08. Dawn Of A Golden Age
09. The Rich Man
10. No Way Out
11. Baptized In The Redemption
12. Roads
13. Blood & Flames
14. Constitution Down
15. I Don’t Wanna Be (A Superhero)
16. Army Of The Sun
17. No Más Control
18. Enemy Of The State

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