Marasmus - Mountains of Dead (2012)

Much like the catastrophic tornadoes that often strike at their native Missouri soil, Marasmus perform in a very pent up vortex of hostility that, if one is not careful, can easily snap you up in its violent winds and proceed to break every bone in your flailing frame. That's not to say that they're any more explicitly unique, barbaric or inventive than many others in the spectrum of USDM, but their debut Mountains of Dead works up enough of a dynamic sweat that both the slam set and those followers of faster paced, acrobatic technicality will find it effectively taxing. Loyal to the obvious influence of a Deicide, Morbid Angel, Suffocation or Cannibal Corpse without ever coming off like some exacting derivative.

This is achieved through tightly reined compositions that primarily hover in the 2-3 minute bracket and fire off dozens of dizzying rhythmic configurations against the backdrop of blasted snares and athletic footwork so harried it seems like there must be 2-3 guys playing it. I can only imagine how much endurance it must take to rifle through a set of beats like these without your limbs giving in on you with fits of rebellious convulsion, but Trynt Kelly levels this kit like whatever storm hit the heaps of bodies on the album cover. The vocals are kept blunt and guttural, not exactly novel or compelling on their own, but occasionally affixed with additional snarls and background gurgles that add another dimension of serial killer intensity. The guitars, meanwhile, focus on a very intestine-churning tone that spins into this surgical excision when they race up and down the frets in callous contortions; and the leads are mixed with just the right level of effect to help them strike out above the concentrated clamor like a flight of eagles warning one another of the impending stormblast.

Still, Mountains of Dead does suffer from the setback that its twisting, turbulent nature never aligns itself with strong enough songwriting to its brand upon the listener's skull. Only the signs of actual impact. The riffs feel like so many you've heard before, splayed out in patterns that don't necessarily heighten or intensify the immense strength behind the instrumentation, and moments of climactic, frightening atmosphere are few and far between, lost amidst the storm of limbs and gutturals. I really liked the intros and intervals used for the album, but the metallic components are little more than the business end of a hastened landfill tractor, unforgiving but systematic, a well-oiled machine performing the same task as others off its same assembly line. From a compositional standpoint, it often felt difficult to discern where one track ended and another began. Marasmus knows its shit very well, and when taken as a 25 minute lozenge of aural manslaughter, this is an effectively relentless debut. Just not one that I'm likely to remember in a few months' time.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10]

http://www.facebook.com/MarasmusKCDM

Metal Church - This Present Wasteland (2008)

Knowing what I know now, that this would be the final Metal Church album before another dissolution, it's hard not to gaze upon its cover as some sort of memorial service for the once great West Coast band. But beyond that, more than most of those leading up to it, This Present Wasteland is an album which struggles for a distinct identity, and for much of its play length, comes up pretty short. Competent, but even less compelling than the few before it, it's probably the least impressive of the full-lengths involving Ronny Munroe on vocals. Not through any fault of his own, because he's the strongest component of the group here by an order of magnitude, but the album spends about 40 minutes in mediocrity before it finally dishes out a song to remember it by. This Present Wasteland, indeed...

Not nearly so dirty or past-obsessed as A Light in the Dark, you could probably argue that this fits between that and The Weight of the World in tone. Munroe has shifted away from the grimier low range he was exploring on the previous effort, and here he flexes his pipes more along the lines of Weight. There are points on the album where he sounds quite close to Tim Aylmar of Pharaoh, and others where he pursues a wavering, lethal Dickinson inflection, or some pure Rob Halford screams. He tries to make the best out of some highly atmospheric tracks like "Deeds of a Dead Soul" (8 minutes of slow burn heavy metal with some synthesizers and clean guitars) or "The Perfect Crime", which sounded like something off a mid 90s album by Queensrÿche, but despite the well rounded structure of these, they all feel a bit dry in terms of delivering memorable riffs and chorus sequences. Balanced off against the harder drivers like "Meet Your Maker" or "The Company of Sorrow", or the bluesy hard swagger of "Crawling to Extinction", the first half of the album seems like dreadfully average, but well performed and produced heavy metal with a mildly dark angle to it.

The final three tracks are likely the best, with "Mass Hysteria" pumping a straight mix of modern power metal with potent bass grooves and some nice melodies added to what otherwise would be some generic, if busy riffing. "Congregation" kind of enforces the whole funereal feel of this record, but it has some of those Aylmar styled vocal lines which imprint themselves on your mind. However, "Breathe Again" took me entirely by surprise, opening like a bouncy and uplifting NWOBHM anthem and then manifesting some excellent verse guitars that made me think I had taken a wrong turn onto Pharaoh's Be Gone. The vocals here are great, the breakdown which once more reminded me of Queensrÿche or calmer Fates Warning, and though it might seem the friendliest song on the album, it's definitely one I wanted to listen through repeatedly. Unfortunately, the rest of the record just doesn't reach this plateau of success.

As with the other Munroe records, the lyrics are appreciably poignant and effective here, even if the Internet  rant "Monster" seems as exaggerated and ridiculous as these things usually are. 'I am just a screen name and a new profile'. Who the hell really feels that way? It's a tool, not a soul sucking conspiratorial leech. 'We've created a monster, it's taking us down.' Hilarious. Philosophical differences and cliches aside, though, you can tell they put a little effort into the 'script' of the record. The production is crisp and well balanced across all the instruments, without feeling squeaky clean or wholly synthetic. As simple as it is, the cover is one of their most eloquent and eye catching, especially with that familiar shadow being cast by the cross, and I do sort of dig how the title reflects the band's state of being at this time. With Wayne having passed away, and the rest of the classic lineup members spread thin elsewhere in the music spectrum, there is little if any chance that Metal Church will manifest in a configuration which rivals its heyday. This Present Wasteland is far from an impressive finale, but there have been worse swan songs for longstanding acts, so it seems they at least experienced closure with some confidence.

Verdict: Indifference [6.25/10]

http://metalchurchmusic.com/

Metal Church - A Light in the Dark (2006)

A Light in the Dark was a fairly curious Metal Church album, if only because the band once again seemed to experience another of many shifts in tone, this time to a darker and dirtier style than I might have expected after The Weight of the World. This comes in both the vocals and riffing delivery, which seem to attempt to bridge back towards the more vicious edge experienced through the first two records in the 80s, meeting limited success. By this point, Vanderhoof was the only original member left in the group, long-time drummer Kirk Arrington having left the lineup; but this replacement, Jeff Plate had quite a repertoire including Savatage, Trans-Siberian Orchestra and associated acts, so the kit was at least left in good hands. One can help but wonder though, if this album was spurred on by a bit of Kurdt's nostalgia for the band's mid-80s boom. The crucifix guitar from the debut and Masterpeace had returned. The cover features a similar, gaping 'opening' as did The Dark, and then, of course, there's the title itself, which seems self-referential. Additionally, there is a 20 year anniversary remake of "Watch the Children Pray", devoted to the late David Wayne, a nice touch, rendering the internal conflicts the band had suffered blood under the bridge.

At any rate, this is hardly the group's crowning achievement, but another passable record which tries honestly damned hard to mete out the more brooding atmosphere of The Dark. Munroe has a lot more grit this time out, channeling the spirit of Wayne's lower register muddied in spots with a bit of Chris Boltendahl meatier bite circa Grave Digger. There are a few growls. Some manic laughter. When he ups the pitch, he sounds a little closer to himself on the previous record, but you could have told me this was another guy entirely and I might damn well have believed you. Matched up with the busier, edgier, grooving power/thrash riffs in tunes like the titular "Light in the Dark" or "Pill for the Kill", speed metal burst of "Mirror of Lies", it's probably the most aggressive the band had sounded since at least Blessing in Disguise. That said, they also don't shun the epic, melodic mood that had been present on The Weight of the World: tracks like the 10 minute "Temple of the Sea", or "Disappear" and "Beyond All Reason" which temper the rugged momentum with some shots of cleaner guitars and a dash of prog rock arrangement. Most of the riff progressions are well composed, just never quite exemplary. You'll always feel as if you've heard them before, but their varied and competent. The group knows damn well how to put a song together, just not one that squats in the memory banks for any period of time.

Lyrically, this was a fraction stronger than The Weight of the World, and I'm happy to say that all of the Munroe fronted records trump the Howe years in this regard, a mix of angry and introspective musings that are no doubt meant to appeal to the audience which has aged alongside the band. The main issue, with this album and so many others like it, as that we're looking at the year two thousand fucking six, and bands with long legacies seemed to want to rest too much on their laurels, while not writing at the level of inspiration that got them there in the first place. I feel it everywhere, on all levels, including huge names like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden (who have never had to struggle to put bread on their tables since the 90s, yet have written worse albums than this one in the 21st century). Sounding like yourselves and putting your logo on the cover is just not enough anymore, and I think A Light in the Dark is another victim of this trend. Not a bad album by any means, but its punchy production values and all around solid execution fall short of the volatile inspiration of The Dark. I found none of the choruses all that resonant, and though the front man is not lost to the concept of charisma, the songs supporting his delivery seem decisively average. I'd have to place it between Masterpeace and The Weight of the World in terms of quality.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10] (screaming for some sanity)

http://metalchurchmusic.com/

Metal Church - The Shrapnel Tapes 81-84 (2008)

The Shrapnel Tapes 81-84 is a long belated collection of the earliest demo material from Metal Church, who for awhile had gone by the name of 'Shrapnel' (in particular on the instrumental Red Skies demo included here) before switching back. To be frank, this is only going to be of interest or use to the most diehard advocates of the band's earlier years, since it has nothing to do with the stylistic evolution some so loved during the years of Mike Howe or the tidier power/heavy metal transition of the more recent Ronnie Munroe years. If Metal Church and The Dark are your bread and butter, though, and you absolutely must hear the most primal incarnations of several of the songs off the debut, then this is clearly targeted in your direction.

In total, you're getting the Four Hymns demo (1981), which many will value for the presence of David Wayne, the Red Skies demo, and then a few other rehearsal tapes from the 81-84 era, one of which is a medley of tracks from a rehearsal demo at the close of that period. Personally. The first four tracks are probably the strongest here, as you're getting raw and authentic renditions of "Battalions" and "Gods of Wrath" from the debut album, not to mention "The Brave" a stock but dark and forceful mid paced banger that some might recognize from the Metal Massacre V compilation. The production is noisy as fuck on a few of the tunes, but what else could you expect from a 30 year old demo transfer. They probably just could have released this as a disc and fans would have lapped it up, especially for the non-album material, but that's not to say it gets preference to the later studio versions on the s/t.

As for the instrumental tapes, well these are really no more than dirty laundry being aired out for those who think they might wanna perform some sort of garage karaoke. Dirty in this case being a somewhat positive trait, because tunes like "Merciless Onslaught" and "Hitman (aka Thrasher)" don't sound all that bad in this most visceral of forms. It's not as if Metal Church had a bunch of other formal vocal demos kicking around that they could have incorporated, so at least they seemed to try and get this as complete as possible. I do think the primal grooves and heavy, sped up NWOBHM influence to tunes like "Graveyard Lust" or "Put the Chains On" might hold an appeal for fans of Metallica's debut, Kill 'Em All, though riff for riff this band was never even a close match for that one in the 80s.

The '84 rehearsal sounds like a shit pile, with the vocals drifting off somewhere in the distance and the guitar experienced as little more than a sonic slice to the head, and the bonus live take on "The Brave" is likewise lackluster, though at least you can hear David cutting through there and it feels like you're watching the band from a good distance at the club. In the end, though, The Shrapnel Tapes doesn't have much to it unless you're a collector or completist, or you want to hear a few more rarities from a band that has rarely exposed them, including an 'unknown song' which is hardly worth it. It's not a good access point for those new to their sound (skip straight to the first two albums in that case), and I doubt anyone dead set on acquiring it for their collection will even break it out with any frequency. But at least it's not a complete waste.

Verdict: Indifference [5.75/10]

http://metalchurchmusic.com/

Metal Church - The Weight of the World (2004)

All components considered, The Weight of the World is actually no slouch of an album, with what might be the most professional production of any Metal Church recording to its day, and a far more enthusiastic roster of songs than were found on 1999's Masterpeace. The problem is that this just never sounded like a Metal Church record to me, but a band waving the flag of an established band moniker to keep forcing itself down a spiral into no man's land. Of the classic lineup, Kurdt Vanderhoof and drummer Kirk Arrington remained, but this came after the whole shitstorm of David Wayne once again exiting the band to start a solo project with former guitarist Craig Wells, and Vanderhoof's own pretty miserable side project which had a lot more commercial, wimpy hard rock sound to it. I had my reservations, so the fact that this didn't suck after the band's five year studio hiatus was a testament that there was some fire left burning in the veterans' hearts...well, the cover sucked, but this is no surprise, as the band seems to wish to set a record for 'lame' in this category.

However, it's almost like a new group entirely in tone. This had a far closer sound to traditional/power metal than any of the previous releases, and lacked those marginal thrash elements heard throughout the 80s. Ronny Munroe, who some might remember from the US hard rockers Lillian Axe (who flirted with some success in that decade), took the vocal reins, and like his predecessors, he's got an undeniable charm about him which seems to sparkle whether the band were writing compelling riffs to support him or not. Like Mike Howe, though, Munroe seems far superior when he's inducing some anger to his inflection like on the opener "Leave Them Behind" He's got this catchy, wavering texture to his voice when he sustains a note, and he's mixed phenomenally on the record, bold and clear without inhibiting the backing instruments. That said, there were a few moments on The Weight of the World in which he exchanged a bit of charisma to concentrate on smoother, deeper, generic emotional lines, and here I admit to losing some interest in the guy, since he could have just been anyone.

Another huge difference on the album is just how glorious and uplifting the riffs feel, far brighter than the hazy and menacing miasma that surrounded the older albums. That's not to say they don't get appreciably heavy in spots like the speed-tested "Hero's Soul" or Judas Priest/80s Sabbath worship of "Cradle to Grave" where Munroe has some great lines redolent of singers like Dickinson, but I always experienced a sunny sort of elation to the writing, which is mildly less appealing than something like The Dark. That said, a lot of the riffs and leads are well constructed, at least more so than the three previous records, and the other new members of the group (Malice guitarist Jay Reynolds, and bassist Steve Unger) fit in seamlessly into this style. They even squeeze in a hint of progressive rock influence in the middle of "Madman's Overture". I wouldn't dub a majority of the tracks 'memorable', yet there were moments in "Blood Money", "Leave Them Behind", "Hero's Soul" and even the playful "Bomb to Drop" which cast the impression that this lineup had been together forever, so well do they gel.

It's not a great album, perhaps, but easily a passable one. Not something that I'd recommend so much for Metal Church fans, believe it or not, but more towards those who have a love for the 80s records of bands like Fifth Angel, Riot, or the Dio solo works. Perhaps also Jorn Lande's so output or the heavier Saxon records of the late 90s, in terms of more recent comparisons. The Weight of the World isn't so distant from the old records that one can't draw some parallels, but it feels more epic than the Howe records like Hanging in the Balance and more happy than the old stuff, likely to leave a few of the bands hangers on feeling mildly alienated. That said, they were obviously happy with this outcome, because they'd continue to collaborate with Munroe for years to follow.

Verdict: Win [7/10] (you claw your way back)

http://metalchurchmusic.com/

Metal Church - Masterpeace (1999)

While I held out fairly high hopes for this inevitable Metal Church reunion record with singer David Wayne, it ultimately proved another of those myriad reformation disappointments, striving so hard to simply reconnect to the band's original level of inspiration that it fails to build upon their legacy in any meaningful way. Hell, before you've even gotten to the music, you feel underwhelmed by the terrible cover. The crucifix guitar returns, sure, but the bright white museum color scheme feels all too sterile a herald for the return of a bunch of hellions after a five year absence. Not that Metal Church has ever had luck packaging its albums, mind you, with the possible exception of The Dark or the cheesy but iconic debut photo, but this was not looking good...

Nor was it sounding good. Granted, it does not help at all that Masterpeace opens with one of the weaker songs, "Sleeps With Thunder", a steadfast but dreadfully average thrasher in which Wayne goes for a more eerie, nasal Ozzy Osbourne intonation/meter circa "Paranoid" or "Symptom of the Universe" and comes up pretty short, not to mention the distracting Alice in Chains-like wah or the annoying, useless micro leads shoved under the verse, or the underwhelming groove chorus. For one thing, I wasn't sure just how much the band was trying to 'ignore' the Mike Howe period of the band, or if that was even a motive. Certainly some of those same 70s proto-metal influences bleed through on this album, so it might be more or less a direct continuation with a slightly more metallic bite to it through the guitar tone, but either way, with the exception of the lead, the band's chance to blow you over was lost on this track.

In fairness, not all of the disc is a bust, and there are some brief moments of brilliance like the titular acoustic interlude with its ethereal, floating guitar melodies, or the simple yet catchy NWOBHM thunder in "Lb. of Cure" (great tune), but a lot of the more hard rocking cuts on the album seem to play it mildly safe, like "Into Dust", "Falldown" or the Aerosmith cover "Toys in the Attic". I don't know if age was wearing them down or not, but I wanted to hear David Wayne breathing clouds of noxious, incendiary gas over some balls to the wall, crushing metal hymns like "Ton of Bricks" that I can use to cast devil horns and middle fingers at their respective targets. Yeah, I wanted Reverend. I wanted The Dark. So sue me. This seems like an album more inspired by the groups' youths growing up in the 70s, and while it works in a few cases, I felt that strange sense of ennui creep in that I had for the oft praised 1993 record Hanging in the Balance.

The real tragedy, of course, is that this was the final official Metal Church record with Wayne on the mic. I would have hoped for a triumph. Sure, he would go on create a solo group with earlier guitarist Craig Wells and release the eponymous Metal Church (a little better than this one), much to the dismay of Vanderhoof, but in 2005 the world would lose this excellent singer, and I for one thing he had some fire left...somewhere. Alas, Masterpeace was just not as lethal or inspired as the band's first two records, where you could feel this clear momentum and have just about every 'banger for blocks around joining you for syncopated neck wrenching communion to "Start the Fire". This record was admittedly loyal enough to the band's catalog up to its release, but too often feels like it was meant more for putting one of the band members' kids through college than tolling the bell of its iron cathedral for miles, and summoning back all the lost lambs to the raging flock. Not their worst, but it was a letdown when I first got it to review for my old paper zine in the late 90s, and despite the repeated chances I've given it, remains so, with just the few exceptions.

Verdict: Indifference [6.25/10] (my time is finished here)

http://metalchurchmusic.com/

Metal Church - Live (1998)

As a teaser for their forthcoming reunion record with David Wayne, Metal Church and Steamhammer dug into the archives to produce one of two live efforts in 1998 (the other was a Japanese release that I've never heard). Live was drawn from recordings of the band's 1986 tour for The Dark, therefor containing all of the band's best songs, at least for one such as myself who didn't get much mileage out of the three Mike Howe fronted albums. So, naturally, I was quite thrilled to listen through it, and damn do they not disappoint, not only because of the actual track selection, but for the production and quality of the performance. The thing might look bland on the surface, but it sounds fantastic.

You're getting 10 tracks, evenly distributed between the first two records, from the classic lineup. The guitar tone is both consistent and aggressive, you might occasionally hear the slight imperfections inherent to any comparison with the respective studio material, but Wells and Vanderhoof sound they like they practiced the shit out of these tunes, consummate professionals who even deliver the leads with skill. The rhythm section also delivers, especially Erickson's bass which sounds good and loud throbbing beneath the riffs. But, as you might expect, David Wayne steals the show away, his voice just as sinister and vitriol dripping as the studio works, especially where he's escalating his melodies like in "Start the Fire" or "Metal Church". Speaking of which, just about all my favorite Metal Church tracks are present in the set list, including those I already named, "Ton of Bricks", "The Dark", and "Beyond the Black".

About the only track I might have left off would be the "Highway Star" cover, but only in favor of another original, not because they make a poor showing of it. That said, I feel like the 46 minutes of the disc is just about right for a band so early on in their career. Not sure why they didn't put this out during their 80s phase, as it might have proven the band's worth and helped draw larger crowds to their gigs, but the very fact that they dropped it as a forerunner to Masterpeace revealed the band's enthusiasm to have Wayne back in the wings, a feeling I happen to share, though the results of the reunion were mixed at best. At any rate, this is well worth hunting down for any fan of the group's 80 phase, since the performances are near flawless.

Verdict: Win [8/10]

http://metalchurchmusic.com/

Necrovation - Necrovation (2012)

Though the 2008 Necrovation full-length debut Breed Deadness Blood managed to distinguish itself from so many of its peers recycling Swedish death metal aesthetics of the early 90s, it still had some limitations. The band had managed to infuse a churning rhythmic subtext circa grimy American influences like Autopsy and Incantation into the Scandinavian propulsion of forebears like Entombed and Dismember, yet the record suffered from the occasional bland chord progression, and seemed to subsist more on its oppressive, primal atmosphere than the actual song structure. For many, this proved enough integrity to reap the accolades, but personally I still thought there was a dimension missing to the music.

Enter 2012, and the eponymous Necrovation sophomore, and it becomes clear that the band also felt there was some grand evolution in store for their sound. This is essentially the Renaissance to Breed Deadness Blood's Stone Age, a far more dynamic offering which is hands down one of the best sounding, most effective death metal records I've heard this year, and like other recent efforts from groups like Morbus Chron and Americans Horrendous, helps restore a bit of faith that an adherence to the 'old school' tropes of the genre is not necessarily a dead end when a bit of creativity is involved. It goes without saying that Necrovation comes with the caveat of more increased accessibility than its predecessor, a higher threshold of variation and melody, but if this turns out too much of a problem for any of the death metal 'elite' then I recommend clouting their ears repeatedly with a pair of bricks. If that's what they want out of music, then why not pursue a shorter and more direct path?

Yes, this album is decidedly that awesome, in both composition and pacing. The guitar tone is copious and monolithic, chunky and natural to accompany the floodgates of atmospheric melodies that the band will often exude behind the rhythmic slugfest. Songs like "Dark Lead Dead" and "Commander of Remains" course through oodles of shifting riffs, at the heart of which lie the expected eerie tremolo patterns and sinister chord progressions of the death metal past, dowsed in such a resonant and oblique atmosphere that the dark seas of the album artwork seem to continuously collide within the listener's mind. No two cuts here sound quite the same, yet they all adhere to the same overarching themes. Several explore broader swaths of dissonance and range, while others are more tightly knit to the muscular affluence of the percussion. Even where the band departs from the metallic sphere almost entirely, as with the escalating acoustics and symphonic components of the instrumental "The Transition", they excel at creating a compelling, malleable atmosphere.

The vocals are likewise fabulous, blunt and darkened, constantly echoed and crashing against the formidable bulk of the guitars, not afraid to hurl a hoot or enthusiastic, devilish shout into the nether. The leads, while scarce and simplistic, are used in an almost psychedelic, swerving context ("Commander of Remains"), and the rhythm section proves just as dynamic and spotless as the riffing architecture. Choosing favorites would be extremely difficult; since the production and flexibility ensure that the entire track list fits like a viscera smeared glove, so I can say certainly that it captivates for the entire 47 minute duration. Is it perfect? I doubt I could claim that, since a handful of the notations subside below others in effectiveness, but it's nonetheless one of the better albums I've heard yet in 2012 and a probably year end contender. Buy two copies, and keep one packaged up to bear with you into the afterlife, which, as this album proves, is ever shadowing the warmth of our lives, like a spectral, lingering tide. Oh yes. Whoosh...whoosh.

Verdict: Epic Win [9.25/10]

http://www.necrovation.com/

Metal Church - Hanging in the Balance (1993)

When I first decided to cover Metal Church earlier in the year, Hanging in the Balance was one of their albums I was most looking forward to revisiting. Originally released to the sounds of crickets in 1993, it was the final full length to involve ex-Heretic howler Mike Howe, received some flak for its poor choice in cover art, and seemed to take the formula of The Human Factor and reverse it in time, drawing more deeply from a lot of 70s influences like Judas Priest, Thin Lizzy, Deep Purple and so forth. This was on yet another record label, which hints at a lack of stability, and the sales were quite miserable. Ultimately, the lack of interest in Hanging in the Balance and Metal Church in general led to the group's disintegration (until 1998).

However, through the ensuing years, this record has built up quite a cult following. Several acquaintances (both on and offline) have praised it as an underrated masterwork, the band's magnum opus. I'm going to come right out and say it: I do not share this same enthusiasm for Hanging in the Balance, nor for really any of the Mike Howe fronted releases in the band's catalog. Nothing to do with the cover, as I've got no personal hangups with Rubenesque viking punk tightrope walker broads with spiked bosom and fishnet stockings. The more the merrier. For me it's just that a large portion of the music on this disc is ultimately so forgettable, whereas a few gems tucked away near the latter half of the album seem too little and too late. I'll grant that it's a better album than The Human Factor, with stronger songwriting, superior chorus sequences and the ability to stir up some effective nostalgia for the roots of metal. Where the prior album leaves a black hole in the memory, this one at least conjures a handful of imaginative sparks.

I've always likened the Californians' retrograde evolution to that of their peers Metallica, who also underwent a process of minimalism and 'mainstreaming' around the same time. But where that band's overt simplification (from an admittedly more complex foundation) produced hit single after hit single, broke sales records and transformed an already hot act into an international institution, Hanging in the Balance was the final nail in a coffin of frustration whose framework had been laid as soon as Blessing in Disguise failed to do gangbusters. There was no lack of ambition here. The band was churning out an hour of content with a great deal of variation, they had involved a number of producers and engineers including Paul O'Neill whose work with Savatage was critical to their own development, and there is clear and present direction for it all to take: an accessible mesh of hard rock and heavy metal with big hooks, climactic choruses, loads of clean/acoustic guitars, and the same sense of personal, easy-to-relate-to lyrics from the previous Howe albums.

The production is admittedly well balanced and preserved. Clean yet pulverizing bass tones roll out the the thunder of "Gods of Second Chance", while John Marshall and Craig Wells create some atmosphere on their guitars leading up to the chunky, equalized rhythm riffs. Howe seems to focus a lot on his lower register here, and throughout much of the album, presumably to create an even bolder contrast when he explodes into the higher pitched melodies, but I found that I didn't enjoy it. For a number of the songs, he sounds just like any other run down hard rock front man with a rasp and grit that might just as well have come from excess boozing and cigarette inhalation, a corner bar blues singer stepping up to bat for something a bit heavier. Far cooler are his screams, which he proves are just as capable as Breaking Point or Blessing in Disguise on tunes like "Waiting for a Savior", or even as wild as Bobby Blitz Ellsworth (Overkill) during the verses for "Conductor".

Unfortunately, what I found the least impressive throughout the album were the riffing selections. Not that I expected the band to come out gunning with more technical or 'heavy' hooks than the albums leading up to this, but I feel like you'll get perhaps one or two decent guitar progressions per song, and then everything else just feels like 'stock footage'. In truth, though, just about all the individual riffs here are painfully average, flirting between the stylistic poles of thrash and traditional metal with about as much aggression as you'd find on an album like Armored Saint's Symbol of Salvation, only with less of a knifing zeal to them. They function as a concrete foundation for the vocal lines, but if I were to dissect them, there are simply none that I ever felt like immediately revisiting or trying to work out on my own guitar (a trait that almost all my favorite metal albums of the 70s and 80s shared). The leads are likewise mundane: bluesy and appropriate for the mood of the lyrics and music, but none that I found emotionally resonant.

The first half of the record (first six songs) is basically a wasteland of 'well, that was okay', but I will admit that there are about 3-4 later on that I feel would have made a killer EP. "Little Boy" definitely brings on that pure nostalgia for the drama so inherent to 70s metal and rock. Brooding, atmospheric vocals, clean guitars capitulating to lightning grooves, and perhaps the best single 'thrash' riff on all the album in the power verses. Not to mention that it's 8+ minute length is wholly consistent with its internal narrative. "Down to the River" reminds me a little of a simpler alternative to one of the sequences in Pantera's "Shattered", but then you've got another strong track in "End of the Age", perhaps the most experimental on the disc with a load of folk and prog rock influences: one for the hippies. I also enjoyed the acoustic guitar interlude "Lovers and Madmen" which is dark and fulfilling, and the closer "A Subtle War" for those carving dual melodies that almost remind me of some of Master of Puppet's most eloquent moments if they were captured in a crossfire between Sad Wings of Destiny and Machine Head.

As for being some unsung masterpiece, though, I just do not hear it anywhere. At its best, Hanging in the Balance provides this classy throwback to better bands and albums, but there is just so much content here to which I could only feign interest, enthusiastically skipping over to listen to something else. It's not the band's stripped down stylistic pursuit that turns me off. Hell, I enjoy a few of the tunes on Metallica's Black Album, and I love Trouble's Manic Frustration. But when I turn back the clock and sit through a song like "The Dark", "Metal Church" or "Start the Fire" I feel this inner beast inspiring me to flip over cop cars, hurl Molotov cocktails at my neighbors and bang my fucking head until my eyes burst. Hanging in the Balance is more like background noise for sipping a cool beer on your front porch with that uncle you haven't seen in a few years. It's dynamic, seasoned, mature, and...safe, but it just doesn't have the staying power or the hooks to chase that wider dream.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10] (somebody turn on the lights)

http://metalchurchmusic.com/

Metal Church - The Human Factor (1991)

All but forgotten by now, and deservedly so, The Human Factor was an album to continue the decline of Metal Church into the 90s, both in quality and relevance. This is the second of the Mike Howe fronted records, and would prove their last on a major label (this time Epic), for pretty obvious reasons. It attempts to dial back the band's heavy backbone to emphasize hard rock influences and further accessibility at an age when much of metal was on the verge of being thrown to the preeminent cultural wolves, and comes up very short in songwriting endurance. The thrown together, uninteresting rhythm guitar riffs, the dull everyman lyrics (often vomiting cliches at key moments in the vocal lines), the inspiration leeching safety of the dry production: this is about as pedestrian as it got for the Californians, and while in some cases that could be regarded as a compliment for some well executed, blue collar heavy metal, this is not one of them. Let us lie among the candles, friends, as we hold a vigil for what might have been.

About the only positive I can really say for The Human Factor is that it's got a festive energy to it that sounds not so much like a band losing its steam as one desperate to remain afloat. Howe's cutting timbre seems to have less of an array of effects in the mix, and all around they seemed to be steering themselves towards a more natural tone. There are a lot of  hard rock and roll fueled grooves carved into the sturdier, metallic riffing, which makes its seem like they were a little late jumping on the gravy train of bands like Skid Row, Extreme and so forth, or perhaps more accurately the British band Wolfsbane. You hear this a lot with the opening riffs of "In Mourning", or the mediocre power ballad fake outs like "Agent Green" with its punctuated verse rhythm. I realize that the membrane between the two styles has always been pretty slim, but fuck, I wouldn't care if Metal Church put out an album like Aerosmith, as long as the songs were good. For the most part it's more of the same Blessing in Disguise selection of played out chord progressions, only wimpy and unmemorable, as if they were attempting to stymy their diminishing pertinence with a friendly grab towards the far broader and stubborner hard rock crowd.

This is, of course, very much a product of its times, as you can tell in the anti-sampling lyrics to the titular opener, which seems to have some beef against electronic/pop music or sampling, because that somehow takes the 'humanness' out of music. Eye rolls. But more than that, it's the same sad story that affected so many great bands in the 90s, struggling to carve out a niche in a market that was turning to Pearl Jam. At its heaviest, the more thrash-heavy riffs are about as interesting as those on the underwhelming Anthrax or Overkill records of that decade, and the post-Zeppelin/Cream boogie blues patterns all seem to saunter along a too trodden ground. There are some decent leads scattered through the record, and it does actually seem to pace itself out evenly with some rhythmic variation and emotional contrasts, but that's the best I can say for an album whose choruses are so meek and unmemorable that I can't remember them after stirring my tea for five minutes in the kitchen. Guess I'm just not 'human' enough to appreciate it, but Breaking Point or The Dark this is not.

Verdict: Indifference [5.5/10] (I just can't believe my ears)

http://metalchurchmusic.com/