Christopher Lee, 92, releases new heavy metal album

LOCARNO, SWITZERLAND - AUGUST 07:  Sir Christopher Lee attends 66th Locarno Film Festival opening ceremony on August 7, 2013 in Locarno, Switzerland.  (Photo by Pier Marco Tacca/Getty Images)
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Horror legend Christopher Lee, who became a household name in a host of Hammer Horror films in the 60s and 70s before stamping his name on the role of Sith Lord, Count Dooku, in the second Star Wars trilogy, is celebrating his 92nd birthday in the traditional manner - by releasing a heavy metal mini-album entitled Metal Knight.

Lee is no stranger to the world of metal. He worked with Manowar on the re-recording of their classic first album Battle Hymns, replacing the long-departed Orson Wells, while his own first album proper, 2010's Charlemagne: By the Sword and Cross, won him a Spirit of Metal prize at the Golden Gods Awards that year, presented by Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi. His most succesful albums have been his metal covers of Christmas songs efforts, 2012's A Heavy Metal Christmas and the following year's A Heavy Metal Christmas Too. The Jingle Hell single from the latter entered the Billboard Charts at #22 last December, making him the oldest performer ever to chart, at 91 years and six months.

Metal Knight, released on Monday, features four tracks and three alternative edits. Two songs are from the Man of La Mancha musical: I, Don Quixote and The Impossible Dream. The others are The Toreador March from the opera Carmen, sung in the original French, and the Frank Sinatra classic My Way.

Lee turned 92 on 27 May.