RODRIGO Y GABRIELA UNVEIL GROUNDBREAKING VERSION OF METALLICA’S “BATTERY”

“It’s no secret that we love Metallica,” says Sanchez. “Master Of Puppets changed everything for us when we first heard it all those years ago.”

“We’ve played parts of ‘Battery’ in our live set for many years,” says Quintero. “We’re so happy to release our studio version in full for our fans. Thank you to the fans for coming with us on this trip, and eternal gratitude to Metallica for the incredible music.”

Rodrigo y Gabriela have long proclaimed the powerful influence of metal on their own groundbreaking music, including a rendition of Metallica’s “Orion” found on their now-classic self-titled second album from 2006. The track was later named byLoudwire among the top 5 on its “10 Very Diverse Covers of Metallica Songs – Ranked,” writing, “Having long admitted the influence heavy metal has had on their music, it’s no surprise that Rodrigo y Gabriela decided to pay their respects to Metallica…Their stunning take on Cliff Burton’s bass-heavy track from MASTER OF PUPPETS will forever shine as their crowning nod to ‘Tallica.”

What’s more, Rodrigo y Gabriela’s triumphant 2014 headline concert at Morrison, CO’s famed Red Rocks Amphitheatre saw them joined on stage by none other than Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo for an unprecedented “Metallica Medley” comprising “Orion,” “For Whom The Bell Tolls,” “The Frayed Ends of Sanity,” and “Battery.” The performance has since proven a viral favorite, earning more than 1 million individual views via the official Rodrigo y Gabriela YouTube channel.

2019 has already seen Rodrigo y Gabriela make a spectacular chart debut with their acclaimed new album, METTAVOLUTION, available now via ATO Records. The duo’s fifth studio LP and first album in five years, METTAVOLUTION entered Billboard’s “Americana/Folk Albums” chart at #1 with 1st week equivalents in excess of 11,000 – Rodrigo y Gabriela’s second best sales week ever. In addition, the new album arrived at #2 on Billboard’s “Rock Albums,” as well as #10 on “Top Album Sales” and #71 on the overall SoundScan/Billboard 200.

METTAVOLUTION also earned critical acclaim to match its popular success. “For Rodrigo y Gabriela, the meditation is actually in the swirl of notes and rhythmic strums that circle around their music,” wrote NPR’s First Listen. “And if we follow their lead, there is a meditative quality for the listener as well. METTAVOLUTION closes with a 19-minute version of ‘Echoes,’ Pink Floyd’s rock masterpiece famously performed live in an ancient Roman amphitheater in Pompeii, Italy. Like its masterful catalog, Rodrigo y Gabriela gives the music new life with just two guitars.” “METTAVOLUTION finds the duo locked back in,” wrote Glide, “and where their last record was dedicated to their influences, this time it is all about the visceral primal passion of playing and what originally connected them to music. The title track opener kicks a rock beat behind the guitar strums as the producer David Sardy loads up the bass, shaker and voice synths to propel the sound forward.” Pitchfork praised the album’s original material, writing, “The crunching ‘Terracentric’ and the blurrily agile lines on ‘Witness Tree’ move like hand-cranked cars on a slotted track, wound up by Rodrigo y Gabriela’s extremely athletic wrists and then turned loose. The dance break ‘Cumbé’ and its slower-breathing follower ‘Electric Soul’ simmer down a bit and lay out their chemistry more simply, to warmer and more pleasant effect, but the dominant energy in part one is fast, heavy, and relentlessly precise…METTAVOLUTION reassures that for as long as they’re around, Rodrigo y Gabriela will be echoing their influences as only they can.”

Rodrigo y Gabriela celebrated the album’s arrival with a spectacular performance ofMETTAVOLUTION‘s title track and first official single, “Mettavolution,” on ABC’sJimmy Kimmel Live!, featuring exclusive choreography by Annie-B Parson (David Byrne, David Bowie, Laurie Anderson). “The duo are joined by a group of six dancers holding matching guitars who move in motion to the past-paced, lyric-free instrumentals,” wrote Rolling Stone. “As the musicians play faster and faster, the dancers leave their guitars behind and perform a choreographed dance behind the two. As the track comes to a climax, a several singer rise in the audience to intone alongside the quick-fire acoustic riffs.”

Rodrigo y Gabriela are currently traveling the world on the epic METTAVOLUTION headline tour, with U.S. dates scheduled through mid-December. For complete details and ticket information, please visit www.rodgab.com/tour-dates

19 – St. Louis, MO – The Pageant

20 – Kansas City, MO – Uptown Theater

22 – Madison, WI – The Sylvee

23 – Cedar Rapids, IA – Paramount Theatre

24 – Minneapolis, MN – State Theatre

26 – Joliet, IL – Rialto Square Theatre

27 – Louisville, KY – The Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts

29 – McKee’s Rocks, PA – Roxian Theatre

30 – Harrisburg, PA – The Forum Auditorium

2 – Durham, NC – Durham Performing Arts Center

3 – Asheville, NC -Thomas Wolfe Auditorium

4 – Charleston, SC – Charleston Gaillard Center

6 – Miami Beach, FL – The Fillmore Miami Beach

12 – Sugar Land, TX – Smart Financial Centre at Sugar Land

20-21 – Monterrey, Mexico – Tecate Pa’l Norte Festival

METTAVOLUTION marks the most ambitious music of Rodrigo y Gabriela’s remarkable two-decade career. Three years in the making, the LP embraces the duo’s passionate interest in Buddhism, the history of human evolution, and the liberation of the potential we have as a species, all expressed through the medium of two acoustic guitars. Conceived and composed in their studio in Ixtapa on the Mexican Pacific Coast, the music of METTAVOLUTION was road-tested around the world on tour in 2017 and 2018 before being recorded late last year in Los Angeles with multiple GRAMMY-winning producer Dave Sardy (Oasis, LCD Soundsystem, A Perfect Circle, Band of Horses) behind the board.

METTAVOLUTION gathers six white-hot new Rodrigo y Gabriela compositions – much of which acknowledge the duo’s thrash metal roots back in Mexico City – as well as an inspired, side-long cover of Pink Floyd’s sprawling “Echoes” – originally found on 1971’s MEDDLE – audaciously reimagined for two acoustic guitars. Rolling Stone recently hailed the 19-minute epic as a “Song You Need to Know,” noting, “(‘Echoes’) is such a signature song, it’s hard to imagine anyone else doing it justice, yet somehow the Mexican acoustic-rock duo Rodrigo y Gabriela landed on a brilliant interpretation… Like the original, the song is its own journey, and it’s beautiful.” “(Rodrigo y Gabriela) make (‘Echoes’) entirely their own,” wrote NPR Music, “turning the original version’s extended psych-jam and terrifying atmospherics into percussive knocks on their guitars and strings and other strange, tactile effects. It only gets better and more breathtaking the deeper you get into the track.”

With career album sales now in excess of 1.5 million worldwide, Rodrigo y Gabriela have undoubtedly established themselves as the planet’s preeminent acoustic guitar duo, earning international acclaim and a fervent fan following with their awe-inspiring mastery of their instruments as well as a truly distinctive approach to melody, energy, and rhythm.

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