Metal Church’s new release, The Weight Of The World, is their first in five years, and even though the band has gone trough some serious lineup changes, this album should be good news for the fans.
It won’t put the world on fire, but to anyone that can adjust to the fact that the band has got both a new singer and bass player, it should still be possible to find several reasons why one still should be proud of being a Metal Church fan.
The new voice, Ronny Munroe (from the Seattle band Rottweiller) is the band’s third singer after Mike Howe and David Wayne. Munroe has a lot to prove, and even though his voice lacks some punch, he and the rest of the team succeed in making the songs sound really heavy.
After all, main songwriter and lead guitarist Kurd Vanderhoof is still onboard, and he has penned some really hard hitting stuff, both in the past and with this release. And, it doesn’t hurt that the album is full of great drumming! Co-founder Kirk Arrington on drums does a remarkably tight and good-sounding job.
The Weight Of The World does not contain a lot of surprises. It’s the band’s twentieth anniversary this year, and one really shouldn’t expect them to change their game. But fear not, the album doesn’t suffer from an overweight of cliches either. It’s all good old, traditional Metal fun.
However … some fillers do appear. “Madman’s Soul,” “Sunless Sky,” and “Blood Money” get quite boring and don’t add much to the album. The title track, however, and songs like “Hero’s Soul” and “Time Will Tell” are joyful listening experiences.
Most of the songs will probably do well live. Heavy riffs and big choruses should make this album well worth promoting from stage along with their old material. Metal Church has been busy touring in the States this summer, but hopefully they will add more dates along with the release of this album.
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