We gender-swapped some of metal’s biggest stars and the results are spectacular

By Fraser Lewry
( Metal Hammer )
last updated

FaceApp can now transform the gender of your photographs... so how will it handle a bunch of metal’s most famous faces?

(Image credit: Future)

FaceApp has come a long way since the Russian photo-manipulation software first struck the nation's smartphones in 2017. Features were limited to small tweaks such as adding smiles to photos of unsmiling people, and we did exactly that on a series of classic album sleeves. Big improvement, right there. 

In 2020 the software has come along in leaps and bounds. The app, which uses neural networks (a type of artificial intelligence) to make its transformations, can now manipulate the apparent gender of a person. 

So what better way to test the software than by turning a some of metal’s biggest names into members of the opposite sex?

The results? See for yourself…

Kerry King (Slayer)

(Image credit: Kevin Nixon)

Metallica

(Image credit: Press)

Corey Taylor (Slipknot/Stone Sour)

(Image credit: Sam Scott-Hunter)

Cristina Scabbia (Lacuna Coil)

(Image credit: Will Ireland)

Johan Hegg (Amon Amarth)

(Image credit: Steve Brown)

Lamb Of God

(Image credit: Press)

Lzzy Hale (Halestorm)

(Image credit: Jeremy Saffer)

Robb Flynn (Machine Head)

(Image credit: Steve Brown)

Dave Mustaine

(Image credit: Press)

Cardinal Copia (Ghost)

(Image credit: Jeremy Saffer)
Fraser Lewry
Fraser Lewry

Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 38 years in music industry, online for 25. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.