By Avinash Mittur
August 4th 2013, The Whisky, West Hollywood CA: I’ve never been a particularly religious guy, and my friends and colleagues usually know or assume that about me. One can imagine that it came as a surprise when I told them that I was going to church last Sunday. This wasn’t your everyday Sunday mass however. This was a congregation under the flag of the Metal Church. A few hundred other fanatics joined together at the Whisky in West Hollywood and went absolutely bananas for some of the best American heavy metal ever, played by truly world-class musicians. Metal Church are back friends, and believe me when I say that I witnessed something truly transcendent and yes, perhaps something genuinely holy.
This show seemed to have hardly any promotion, so I initially feared a low turnout. With three local openers left to go however, the Whisky was already completely packed with a mix of patch-jacket clad thrash kiddies and a few older fans. As far as the crowd was concerned, I knew right away that we were going to do our part just fine. As for the local openers that I saw, there was a re-thrash band that did a cover of ‘The Antichrist’ by Slayer, a power thrash act with a vocalist who felt like showing off his high pitched (and out of key) screams as opposed to actually singing, and some melodic death metal band. Yawn, pass and ‘why?’ in that order. Sorry kids, but opening for Metal Church was a losing proposition on this night. Side note: props to the thrash babies on the floor for summoning a solid circle pit for “Angel of Death” which played over the PA.
When the lights dimmed at 11:15 and the Terminator 2 theme began to play, my excitement hit a boiling point. I was finally going to see one of my all-time favorite bands since my days in high school, and when Jeff Plate snuck down to his drum kit and pounded the toms for the intro to ‘Ton of Bricks’, I may as well have had a heart attack. The guitars and bass began their iconic buildup, the snare was rolling and then it happened: “Rip it up, kick it out, blood begins to flow!” Ronny Munroe screamed and the floor exploded into a sea of chaos. With no break the guys went right into “Start the Fire” and fists were flying during the choruses. The set just never let up as the classics kept coming one after another with hardly a pause in the action. The crowd reciprocated the energy with endless enthusiasm, prompting Munroe to comment that we were the best crowd that Metal Church had seen in years. As a result, guitarist Kurdt Vanderhoof wore an expression of shock and awe in a truly joyous way throughout the whole set, and dude was always making sure to have fun and goof around with Munroe or bassist Steve Unger. While few would be quick to point out the bass parts from classic Metal Church records, Unger really pulled his weight when it came to the backing vocals. His strong vocal harmonies during ‘Fake Healer’ and ‘Badlands’ were ace, and gave Munroe room to stretch out with some choice screams. The absolute highlights of the show had to have been the one-two knockout of ‘Beyond the Black’ and ‘Metal Church’, with the Whisky becoming a maelstrom of insanity during the fast break of the former track, and the band somehow summoning the same dark atmosphere that was conjured on record for the latter song.
Barring a bit of a lyrical flub on ‘Healer’, Munroe was simply on fire for the entire set. There were so many moments that Munroe not only channeled the sound, but also the spirit of the late David Wayne’s vocals, that it was rather frightening. Even on their reading of ‘A Light in the Dark’, Munroe gave a performance that sounded much more comfortable and naturally more aggressive than the studio version. On his end, Plate did great justice to original drummer Kirk Arrington’s masterful studio performances. I’m normally not a fan of making comparisons between present and past members of a band, but when one has to perform parts played by Kirk Arrington, one of the absolute best drummers in metal history, giving a solid and respectful performance is a truly noteworthy achievement. Plate went for nearly every distinctive fill, rarely strayed from Arrington’s original patterns, and whacked his snare like it had threatened his family. Guitarist Rick Van Zandt was a little more loose with emulating the original solos; he stuck with many of the distinctive lines and themes, but added some fast runs here and there. On the whole, the band was more than respectful enough to the original performances, while still adding their own flair and flavor to the material (I personally really dug the start/stop stuff that was added during ‘Metal Church’) . That’s about all a crazy fan of these songs could ask of this band.
Now as a crazy fan however, it’s worth noting that the set was a bit short, running just shy of 75 minutes. The cries of “one more song!” from the crowd as the band took their bows seemed to indicate everyone’s agreement with me in that regard. Metal Church do earn brownie points for throwing in the underrated fan-favorite ‘Hitman’ and closing with the hard-working musician’s anthem, ‘The Human Factor’, though, and for covering nearly every single absolutely essential Metal Church song. Yes, ‘Date With Poverty’ was very sorely missed, but the setlist as a whole was utterly spotless. It honestly read like a Metal Church greatest hits album, and for seventy-five straight minutes (and quite literally a less than thirty-second encore break) I was in heavy metal heaven. Given how phenomenal the guys are performing, they’re welcome to indulge themselves with a couple of additional newer tracks in the set as well; I know the kid who shouted for ‘Mirror of Lies’ would be stoked for that anyway.
Metal Church Set List:
1. Ton of Bricks
2. Start the Fire
3. A Light in the Dark
4. Fake Healer
5. Badlands
6. Gods of Wrath
7. Hitman
8. Watch the Children Pray
9. Beyond the Black
10. Metal Church
Encore:
11. Highway Star (Deep Purple cover)
12. The Human Factor
You know a show was great when the biggest complaint I can think of was that the band didn’t bother to bring any merch. Every single second of Metal Church’s set was live heavy metal on a truly higher plane of performance and energy, seventy some-odd minutes nothing but the most badass American metal around. To anyone with the opportunity to see Metal Church in 2013: do it without hesitation. There aren’t a group of guys more capable of doing as much justice to this material right now, and they are simply one of the tightest and most badass live bands I have seen this year. And of course to the band: bring some merch next time, and take my damn money. An incredible show against the highest of standards, and the sickest onstage comeback that a Metal Church fan could have ever asked for.