Alvin M. Keeling 
South Carolina Alternative Metal Band Islander Just Released It’s not easy to be human, their third album, which features a number of high profile guest appearances from notable heavy music stars. So, in the spirit of continued collaboration, we’ve invited vocalist Mikey Carvajal to break down the best guest features on rock and metal songs.
Islander formed in 2011 and, after releasing two EPs in consecutive years, they released their Violence and destruction debut in 2014, followed by Power under control in 2016.
Although the gap between the albums has been quite large, Islander’s momentum has only continued to grow, with their latest album being the first on the house’s new Better Noise Music label, which also boasts Five Finger Death Punch, Asking Alexandria, Nothing More and many more among his assets. listing. Label mates Hyro the Hero and Fire From the Gods have also been cropped as guest collaborators on It’s not easy to be humanin addition to Lacey Sturm, Eric Vanlerberghe (I Prevail) and even three artists who have been recognized in Caravajal’s list.
Take a look at the singer’s picks for the top 10 guest features on rock and metal songs below.
Islander’s New Album “It’s Not Easy Being Human”‘ is now available and can be purchased here. Follow everything the band is up to by following Islander on Facebook, TwitterInstagram and Spotify.
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POD, “Without Jah, Nothin'” (feat. HR by Bad Brains)
We did a few songs with HR from Bad Brains, but POD did that first. I love this song because it perfectly represents the two groups. When it came out, POD were one of the biggest mainstream bands on the planet and instead of playing by “mainstream rules” they went for punk rock royalty on this track. HR sounds amazing on this song and it introduced a lot of the mainstream into the Bad Brains.
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Bring Me the Horizon, “Wonderful Life” (featuring Cradle Of Filth’s Dani Filth)
I love this song and the accompanying video. I personally think that Love is one of the best heavy records of the new school generation. This song is super heavy and super catchy and it’s something we’ve always worked on in Islander as well. The combo of BMTH and Dani Filth worked perfectly.
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Dead Poetic, “Paralytic” (featuring Chino Moreno of Deftones)
I love everything Chino Moreno did on this song. I still think it’s also one of the best Dead Poetic songs. Brandon Rike already has an amazing voice, so adding Chino’s beautiful voice to what Dead Poetic was doing was bound to be a recipe for something awesome.
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Norma Jean, “Memphis Will Be Laid To Waste” (with Mewithoutyou’s Aaron Weiss)
This era of Norma Jean was a game-changer. While a lot of bands started to sound a bit more polished, Norma Jean recorded this record live in a studio.
Mewithoutyou was picking up a lot of speed when this Norma Jean album came out and Aaron Weiss was on it. It helped both bands build a kind of brotherly culture within the scene at that time. Aaron’s vocals pop perfectly on this track as his poetic verses come out of nowhere.
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Bjork, “Where’s the line?” (with Mike Patton of Faith No More)
This song was recorded using only vocals as instruments. Every time I hear it I feel like it would sound amazing on guitar and drums.
I love when the attitude of a song can make the track feel heavy without it being loud guitars and all that, and this track definitely does that.
I used to have a DVD that showed them recording that in the studio, and it was so crazy. One of my dreams is to have Bjork guest on an Islander track. Bjork, if you’re reading this… Thank you.
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Post Malone, “Take What You Want” (with Ozzy Osbourne, Travis Scott)
I love this song. I get so frustrated when I see rock fans get upset when artists of a different genre want to share the love of rock ‘n’ roll. I love that Posty loves rock music.
We need more of that stuff in music in general.
All three artists sound amazing on this song, and I was so happy when Octane from Sirius XM added it because I knew it would help change the genres on radio a little more.
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Deftones, “Headup” (featuring Soulfly’s Max Cavalera)
It may sound corny, but when I was in high school, I used this song to cheer me up.
I don’t even know why I needed to be fired up, but this song is the one that made me feel like I could take on the world.
It’s heavy and never stops being heavy. The dynamics of this piece make each part heavier than the previous one. You can feel Max and Chino’s passion through your headphones. It’s raw, I love it.
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Zao, “Skin Like Winter (feat. Ryan “Maven” Clark from Demon Hunter/Training For Utopia/)
There were two versions of this song, this being the first.
The second record had better production, but I love how raw this version is and that it was during a time when the bands were doing separate EPs in order to attract more fans and support each other. This culture must return.
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Perform DMC, “Walk This Way” (featuring Aerosmith)
It’s probably one of the most popular songs of all time. Aerosmith has its own ride at Disney World. I don’t think it gets “bigger” than that.
This song really helped to cross hip-hop and rock ‘n’ roll and showed people that, as different as they are, they are the same.
Two styles of music rooted in passion. It works perfectly and because of this song we have a lot of other songs. So, thanks, guys.
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Islander, “Skin Crawl” (featuring Brian “Head” Welch of Korn on guitar, Dan Weyandt of Zao, Bruce Fitzhugh of Living Sacrifice)
OK, I know it’s our own song, but I’m really proud of it.
It’s crazy to me that we have a song with Korn, Zao and Living Sacrifice on the same song. If you haven’t heard it, fix it and screw it up.
I can only hope we’re half as legendary as any of these bands in the future. I’m honored not only to have these guys on our album, but even more to call them friends.
