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| Buy this album |
I love reading official bio's and press releases. Oh, what claims these things will make! I get it; they're trying to sell records. The press release for Metal Church's This Present Wasteland proclaims that vocalist Ronny Munroe's vocals sound like "Halford meets Dio." I sat through this record twice, close to an hour and a half, and found that Mr. Munroe may have had a Dio-like tone on "Perfect Crime," but to say he is in the league of two of the most distinct voices in Metal history, voices bigger than the genre itself, is quite the over statement. It would be like referring to me as "Jesus meets Buddha" because I'm fat and like to pray once in a while.
The aptly titled This Present Wasteland lingers in the wasteland of Metal's yesteryears, sounds like Tony Martin-era Black Sabbath, and at times gets real hokey like the slow parts of "A War Never Won"... Tony Martin! Now there's a good vocal comparison. Make no mistake, Munroe is a top flight vocalist, but sounds much like the other fifty guys who sang in Yngwie's band, very non-distinct, yet solid. David Wayne bordered on terrible vocals, but give me David Wayne-era Metal Church any day, when the band had a distinct sound, at least for four or five songs on their debut.
The album is not terrible. It just seems to me they started with the typical Heavy Metal checklist and made sure to cover all bases. Exaggerated emotive vocals, check. Sensitive ballad parts, check. Silly song to the fans ("Congregation"), check. They are a solid band, great musicians, especially drummer Jeff Plate, a savage yet bridled percussionist. However, squarely out of ideas, the attempt to mimic themselves sounds less Metal Church and more Metal karaoke in the church basement.
| Tracklist |
| 1. In The Company Of Sorrow |
| 2. Perfect Crime |
| 3. Deeds Of A Dead Soul |
| 4. Meet Your Maker |
| 5. Monster |
| 6. Crawling To Extinction |
| 7. War Never Won |
| 8. Mass Hysteria |
| 9. Breathe Again |
| 10. Congregation |
: 57:21
| Buy other Metal Church albums |
