Heavy metal veterans Metal Church are back with their 13th studio album, Congregation of Annihilation, with new singer Marc Lopes from Ross the Boss' band in tow, just a few short years after the death of their powerful frontman Mike Howe...yes, this is a band who have lost too many members over the years, but they always pick up the pieces and come back stronger than ever. Marc fits in quite well here, his demonic wail (think Tim 'Ripper' Owens meets Savatage's Jon Oliva) just slices through all the expert riff-o-rama like a sword through a concrete wall. This band is known for their pure form of 'heavy metal'...it's not quite thrash, not quite power metal, but floats somewhere in between, and with songs like "Pick a God and Prey", "Another Judgement Day", and the crushing title track, you can see this marriage between the band and their new singer is going to work out just fine. I've also seen them live recently, and Marc handles these new songs and the old classics in expert fashion. Axe-men Kurdt Vanderhoof and Rick van Zandt as always crank out the mountainous riffs and blazing leads, as evident on mashers such as "Making Monsters" and the furious "All That We Destroy", showing that these guys still have plenty of tricks up their sleeves when it comes to creating crushing & memorable heavy metal arrangements.
The production is also top notch here, helping make Congregation of Annihilation another in a fine line of latter period Metal Church albums that continue to add to their excellent legacy.
Track Listing
1 Another Judgement Day
2 Congregation of Annihilation
3 Pick a God and Prey
4 Children of the Lie
5 Me the Nothing
6 Making Monsters
7 Say a Prayer with 7 Bullets
8 These Violent Thrills
9 All That We Destroy
10 My Favorite Sin (Bonus Track)
11 Salvation (Bonus Track)
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