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If the name Ronny Munroe rings any bells, it’s probably because
you know him from his time in Metal Church. Ronny was the singer
in the final incarnation of this fine, criminally underrated
metal band.
Not surprisingly then, this album sounds a lot like Metal
Church’s last couple of albums. A whole lot. What did you
expect, with former Metal Church guitarist Rick Van Zandt in the
line up and that band’s mastermind Kurdt Vanderhoof
producing…It’s virtually impossible to judge this album without
referencing to Metal Church, so I’m not even going to attempt
it.
From the opening triple whammy of “Far”, “What You
Choose To Call Hell” and “Deafening Hypocrisy” the
stage is set : full on, no nonsense heavy metal. “Rebuild
The Ruins” goes epic, with majestic string arrangements, big
backing vocals and a slightly lower pace. It wouldn’t be too
big a stretch of the imagination to picture the following track
“Delirium” with the vocals of the late David Wayne, right
down to the tormented screams and maniacal laughter. “Demon
Opera” is another headbanger with an epic twist. “Across
The
Sea Of Souls”
is a powerful ballad that wouldn’t be out of place on The Dark.
On “Desperate Man” the pace picks up again somewhat. A
very nice solo in this one. On “Ivory Towers” the pedal
goes flat down to the metal once more. The stirring pace
continues unabated on “Evil Genius” and “Ride Me”.
The album closes with a cover of a classic hard rock song. This
version of “Man Of The
Silver Mountain”
doesn’t match the brilliance of the original, but it doesn’t
sound out of place on this album. Munroe is straining at times
to match Dio’s melodies, but the band gets bonus points for not
speeding this up but sticking to the original tempo.
There are a couple of guest appearances, among others from
Queensr˙che guitarist Michael Wilton but they don’t particularly
add to the blistering performance delivered by Munroe’s band.
Yes, it all sounds a lot like Metal Church. I for one am glad
someone is carrying the torch now that Metal Church themselves
have called it quits.
I may be slightly biased, being a major
Metal Church fan, but I can’t recommend this album enough to
fans of real heavy metal. I have deducted a couple of points for
the rather low budget production job though, with pain in heart…
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