Well loved purveyors of heavy metal Metal Church have just released their new album Damned If You Do via Nuclear Blast Records. Oliver had a good old listen and, after his neck had recovered, wrote down his thoughts.
Ok I might as well say it up front, I really liked this album. Like, a lot. Seriously, the recorded performances are something to behold. Everyone was on point at all points. The vocals have a great depth and texture to them, the guitars and bass are tight as the rock slabs that make up the pyramids, it’s just fantastic. The album is mixed perfectly too and shows everything at it’s best. The kick drums especially thunder like cannon fire. Speaking of drums, this is the first Metal Church record that’s had Stet Howland (formally of W.A.S.P.) performing on the skins. Having recently overcome a type of cancer known as Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, reports say that he played “like a man possessed”. That desire to rock definitely comes through on Damned.
Taking the title track Damned If You Do as a good example of Stet’s passion, he hits those toms like they personally offended him. This is a man at the top of his form and it shows. It’s actually a real treat to hear that intricate drumwork. The track itself is a great album opener as it very quickly gets down to the business of rocking you directly in the face. Vocalist Mike Howe has such a commanding voice it makes you just want to get up and mosh. A strong opener like this is a good sign that a lot of love went into the record.
I was quite fond of the second song The Black Things. The things referred to seem to be all those little demons that plague humanity and the music itself reflects that anxiety. Through the track, the lead guitar plays differing sequences of five note phrases in some obscure minor mode that give the whole song an ominous feel. It’s quite unusual, but these phrases are arranged in just the right way that they send shivers up my spine. This feeling continues through to the next song By The Numbers, as if the creeping dread in The Black Things has burst out into a full blown humanitarian crisis. Those hidden evils are out and driving tanks down your street. Time to run and hide!
I feel a great record should have great variety in the tracks and boy does Damned deliver. Guillotine takes the LP in a much thrashier direction. It’s got this great guitar riff that interplays with the drums nicely ala some of Overkill’s best stuff. It’s seriously toight like a toiger. It’s pure heavy metal in its most distilled form, I love it. Mike really nails the vocals on this too, delivering screams that sound like, if they were attempted by any mere mortal, would cause lungs to explode.
One of the more unusual songs is Monkey Finger. The title is apparently a statement on how people are too quick to judge and accuse, pointing their “Monkey Finger” at the protagonists of the song. I admit I initially thought the title was a little silly, but actually listening to the lyrics of the song, Monkey Finger is actually a great metaphor. The music itself also rocks, being one of the slower, more deliberate songs on the album. Definitely one for the headbangers up the front. Out of Balance is another one that’s quite different. The vocal phrasing of the chorus makes it feel like it comes from a grand rock opera. In said opera it would be the song that tells the heroes “When you’re feeling down, you need to go to [thematically appropriate business establishment] and have a good time”.
“Damned If You Do” is a damn good listen, out now on every format known to human kind. I highly recommend you give it a try, it gets my two thumbs up seal of approval. Or maybe two Monkey Thumbs up.
TRACKLIST
Damned If You Do
The Black Things
By The Numbers
Revolution Underway
Guillotine
Rot Away
Into The Fold
Monkey Finger
Out Of Balance
The War Electric
