METAL CHURCH "Damned If You Do"
METAL CHURCH “Damned If You Do”
It’s a pleasure to
hear Mike Howe fronting Metal Church again. His nasal snarl fits the
band’s approach to a T and on “Damned If You Do”, he shows more
range than ever before while retaining his trademark sound.
The key to Metal Church’s success is subtle simplicity. They focus
on strong, simple hooks that are easy to digest, but on top of that
strong foundation they put all sorts of melodic touches and
interesting vocal twists. The simple “hum….hum” that starts the
title track grabs your attention in a fundamental way until the band
cranks up a crunchy riff. They also know how to switch mood and tempo
between songs so the album never gets monotonous yet it keeps a
coherent whole.
Like almost every Metal Church album, this has a great clear sound to
it. Everything comes across with maximum clarity. The record has a
consistent quality, but my favorite tracks were the hard charging but
not quite thrash of “Guillotine”, the super crunchy mid-paced
bruiser “Monkey Finger” and the soaring “Revolution Underway”
which almost has a Queenryche feel to it.
This is just another rock solid heavy metal album from this veteran
band. A no brainer pickup for old Metal Church fans and a perfect
place for new fans to start their pilgrimage.
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