This Present Wasteland (2025 Remastered) Metal Church

• 1 The Company Of Sorrow (2025 Remastered) 06:32
• 2 Perfect Crime (2025 Remastered) 04:36
• 3 Deeds Of A Dead Soul (2025 Remastered5) 08:26
• 4 Meet Your Maker (2025 Remastered) 05:33
• 5 Monster (2025 Remastered) 06:24
• 6 Crawling To Extinction (2025 Remastered) 04:08
• 7 War Never Won (2025 Remastered) 05:32
• 8 Mass Hysteria (2025 Remastered) 04:41
• 9 Breathe Again (2025 Remastered) 05:22
• 10 Congregation (2025 Remastered) 05:52
• Total Runtime 57:06

Info zu This Present Wasteland (2025 Remastered)

Metal Church has proven that greatness is “This Present Wasteland.” This album is so incredible, I encourage even Hard Rock fans to dive into it! Metal Church over the years have incorporated Heavy Metal and Thrash into their own blend of powerful Metal sound. Ronny Munroe on vocals is prolific and should be heralded as one of the best front men in Metal today. Ronny, without a doubt, is an inspirational Metal vocalist, who makes these songs on this album jump out at you and come to life. “Monster” and “Crawling To Extinction” are unreal with the intensity of the music and delivery of the vocals.

Lyrically, all the songs make sense, especially “Monster”, where the internet has clearly taken over someone’s soul. “The Company Of Sorrow” and “The Perfect Crime” define which direction this album really goes, which is a non stop, Heavy Metal Thrash bounty of greatness. This is honestly one of the best Metal albums of 2008. Metal Church deserves all the respect and adulation they receive for “This Present Wasteland”, this is a band that has defined what survivors means and defied any critics along the way.

The Metal Church lineup is Kurdt Vanderhoof on guitar, mellotron, mini moog (and a true Heavy Metal hero), Ronny Munroe on vocals (who is astonishing with his range), Jeff Plate on drums and percussion, Rick Van Zandt on guitar and Steve Unger on bass and backing vocals. Important to note are the special guest musicians here; Angus Clark plays lead guitar on “Monster”, Chris Caffery plays lead guitar on “Mass Hysteria” and Matt Leff plays lead guitar on “Congregation”.

Ronny Munroe, lead vocals
Rick Van Zandt, lead guitar
Kurdt Vanderhoof, rhythm guitar, Mellotron, synthesizer, producer, engineer, mixing
Steve Unger, bass, backing vocals
Jeff Plate, drums
Guest musicians:
Angus Clark, guitar solo (track 5)
Chris Caffery, guitar solo (track 8)
Matt Leff, guitar solo (track 10)

Digitally remastered

Metal Church
Born out of the West Coast metal scene of the 80's, Metal Church quickly became one of the standout talents of the genre. After signing a deal with Elektra Records, they released two critically acclaimed albums. Their self-titled release Metal Church postured the band as one of the pioneers of the thrash/metal scene. The Allmusic guide had this to say about the debut: "The band's incredibly tight musicianship is a highlight all on it's own. This album remains an overlooked classic of straight-ahead American-bred heavy metal." With the heavy metal scene starting to rise in the U.S., Metal Church set out on a very successful tour with label mates Metallica.

Next came The Dark, the fury of its opening track, "Ton Of Bricks" was championed as one of the premier metal releases of the 80's. The Dark also led to one of a few lineup changes with the departure of vocalist David Wayne. However, more success was yet to come. With the addition of former Heretic vocalist Mike Howe, and Metallica guitar tech extraordinaire John Marshall, the riffing became heavier and the subject matter deeper. They tackled political and social issues of the day with the releases of Blessing In Disguise and The Human Factor. At a time when heavy metal bands moved from the underground and became part of the hair band/pop fad, Metal Church stayed true to their roots.

During the mid 90's, the members of Metal Church headed in their own directions. Kurdt Vanderhoof worked on his namesake project, Vanderhoof, while Kirk Arrington was playing on various sessions including a recording with Sir Mix-A-Lot. 1999 led to a well-received reunion of the original Metal Church lineup with the release of Masterpeace. The band went back to their classic sound and played several festivals overseas.

2004 saw them back with new vocalist, Ronny Munroe, whose style has been described as Rob Halford meets Dio, as well as Jay Reynolds on guitar and Steve Unger on bass. With a new record The Weight Of The World and some new blood, heavy metal legends Metal Church picked up where their aptly titled last release Masterpeace left off.

In 2006, twenty years after their cult album The Dark, Metal Church presented their brand new release, A Light In The Dark, forging a creative arch that skillfully links the band's past with the present. Ten new tracks, (plus a new version of the classic "Watch The Children Pray", a tribute to original frontman David Wayne), document the development of a band that, despite all innovation, has never denied it's typical trademarks. The current lineup consists of Kurdt Vanderhoof, Ronny Munroe, Jay Reynolds, Steve Unger and new addition Jeff Plate on drums. "Jeff is an incredibly dynamic and professional drummer," Vanderhoof points out. "He has propelled us to a musical level that surprised even ourselves." Plate has replaced Kirk Arrington, who left the group for health reasons, and proves a real stroke of luck on A Light In The Dark.

In 2008, guitarist Jay Reynolds was replaced by Rottweiler guitar player Rick Van Zandt. This Present Wasteland, Metal Church's ninth release, is a return to their roots and contains some of their strongest material to date.

Dieses Album enthält kein Booklet