XI Metal Church 2016 Nuclear Blast Records Metal Church are a relatively unique band, they manage to balance the line somewhere between a Thrash Metal band and a decent classic Heavy Metal band. Bearing this in mind, Metal Church easily able to appeal to most die-hard fan of both Thrash and Heavy Metal. XI is the follow up to 2013’s Generation Nothing and being the 11th studio album it is aptly titled. XI is also the first album to feature the return of vocalist Mike Howe since 1993’s Hanging in the Balance. As with the latest Flotsam And Jetsam album, XI is produced by Chris Collier alongside long term Metal Church guitarist, Kurdt Vanderhoof. Between them, they have made a great sounding album, XI sounds both heavy and melodic dusted with a modern 80’s sound, whilst still being able to keep up with the Thrash sound of their youth. However, when listening to XI through headphones, there is a high vocal track in the mix behind the main vocals at times. This higher vocal track seems to drag out slightly longer than the actual vocal and can be quite irritating and can be heard quite clearly on Reset through a decent set of headphones. XI opens with Reset, a song that was previewed on YouTube prior to the release of XI. Reset takes a few listens to get into it, mainly due to the issue raised above, but a lot of the songs, as decent as they are, suffer from being instantly memorable and lack that last immediate killer hook. However, don’t like that put you off, there are some good tracks on XI. No Tomorrow, Killing Your Time and Shadow are all great examples that Vanderhoof can still write a great song. Vanderhoof even strays into Alternative Metal territory with It Waits having a vibe of Faith No More with its same chord repeating to a powerful rhythm. Even though XI is unmemorable at times, that doesn’t detract from the songs and XI will have you subconsciously nodding in rhythm to the of the beat. Jeff Plate is a stalwart drummer, capable of making even the most simple beats sound bombastic and heavy hitting. Plate’s drumming is relentless throughout and provides the perfect anchor for the bass of Steve Unger to play his solid lines behind the twin attack of Rick Van Zandt and Vanderhoof’s guitars. The departure of Ronny Munroe after 2013’s lacklustre Generation Nothing wasn’t a big surprise. The surprise was the return of Mike Howe to vocal duties after a 23-year absence. Howe’s voice sounds as good as it did on 1989’s Blessing in Disguise and has lost none of its famous screech. Howe’s voice now sounds more worn in, older and wiser, yet songs like Signal Path show that he could give his younger self a run for the money with its Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider type verse delivery. XI is a decent Metal album, it is great to see Metal Church pick themselves up after Generation Nothing, the departure of Munroe and the return of Howe has only enhanced the sound of XI. XI isn’t the best album that you’ll pick up this year, but it is certainly nowhere near the worst and is definitely worth purchasing. 7/10 Adam No Tomorrow (Vanderhoof/Howe)
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