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Mckellen Follows Suit as Knights Make Metal

It’s only been two weeks since well-known actor Christopher Lee released “Charlemagne: By the Sword and Cross,” and already, on-screen rival Sir Ian Mckellen is following suit.

The 70-year-old Oscar nominee, who is soon reprising his role as Gandalf for the two-part “Lord of the Rings” prequel “The Hobbit,” said, "I'm not up with all the latest music and I don't have an iPod and I don't know how they work.

"But I do like… music and am utterly devoted to it.”

Lee, 87, is supportive of his fellow thespian and knight, in spite of the wizard dual that put his character Saruman out of a job a little earlier than expected on the set of the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

"One should try anything he can in his career, except folkdance and incest," Lee is reported as saying.

“Charlemagne” is an epic journey through the life and times of Charles I set to a symphonic metal landscape, well-suited to a legend of stage and screen, but it seems Mckellen will be doing something completely different than that, as well as the power metal projects Lee has been involved in over the years with bands like Rhapsody and Manowar.

Known for his “flawless, rich voice, combined with Shakespearean bearing,” Mckellen will be tackling a combination of doom and death and, although session musicians have been hired to compose and record the music, the knighted actor will write his own lyrics, which will focus on many of the modern day happenings of the world that dishearten the outspoken activist, as well as the pivotal moment that inspired him to become a vegetarian.

He’s keeping quiet on many of the other details, but reveals: “I can tell you it's going to be amazing."

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