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"This Present Wasteland" continues where 2004's "Weight of the world" and 2006's "A Light in the Dark" with singer Ronny Munroe. Munroeís vocals hold true to what one would expect from Metal Church vocals in years past while adding his own flavor to the mixture.
The music itself is what you would expect from Metal Church. For those who are not familiar, this means no superimposed music and absolutely no deviation from raw power. For as brutally hard and fast as this band plays, you might also be surprised to notice just how melodic the music is and always has been. Songs like "Congregation," and "Perfect Crime" show off the bandís ability to write interesting songs through the use of peaks and valleys in the musical and lyrical delivery.
Not only the first, but one of the best songs on the album is "In the Company of Sorrow" which introduces us to this present wasteland, the grim and brooding mood of the album in a fury of power and speed. The feeling seems to last throughout the album until the last two tracks, at which point, the melody and tone lifts the listener out of the wasteland so to speak.
"This Present Wasteland" does not appear to be a concept album; however, like most of its predecessors, the songs tend to make the listener think of current events both worldwide or in our own immediate lives.
For those of you who are long-standing fans of Metal Church or may have been familiar with their music in the 80's, you will find that "This Present Wasteland" differs from previous albums only slightly. It truly amazes me how some bands cannot create music the way they used to and yet bands like Metal Church (of which there are few) can actually improve upon their age-old sound!
Rating: 90
Reviewed By: Brian Grefrath
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‘The Dark’ also led to one of a few lineup changes with the departure of legendary vocalist David Wayne... however, more success was yet to come. With the addition of former Heretic vocalist Mike Howe, and Metallica guitar tech extraordinaire John Marshall, the riffing became heavier and the subject matter deeper. They tackled political and social issues of the day with the release of ‘Blessing in Disguise’ and Metal Church was poised to be joining the big four of American metal! The bands record label at the time, just didn’t seem to know how to put over or sell a band with no stage show or over the top antics like label mates "Motley Crue" who sold themselves. After years of extensive touring and now with five amazing studio albums under their belts, Metal Church decided to disband only to reform five years later. Over the last 24 years Metal Church have undergone some line-up changes and the bands current line-up seems to be the their strongest to date! Fronted by former Rottweiler vocalist Ronny Munroe, Metal Church are ready to prove to the world that they don’t plan on disappearing any time soon! In 2008, guitarist Jay Reynolds was replaced by Rottweiler guitar player Rick Van Zandt. And soon after the band went into production on what is their ninth studio album ‘This Present Wasteland’.
I can safely say that ‘This Present Wasteland’ isn’t a bad album from one the true pioneers of the thrash metal scene. It has their trademark Metal Church's guitar work and aggressive vocals while retaining a degree of melody that’s evident on the songs like ‘The Company of Sorrow’ and one of the stand out tracks ‘Deeds Of A Dead Soul’. Unfortunately as much as I liked the band’s latest album there were plenty of reasons I didn’t enjoy it as much as past metal church classics. Overall the album seemed to lack “Real Aggression”. This is something I notice more and more these days from a majority of the thrash metal scenes artists, the guitar sounds was a little too polished for my liking also, and I think a few more effects here and there would have added a little more body to the overall sound on ‘This Present Wasteland’. Unlike previous releases ‘This Present Wasteland’ doesn’t come out and grab you by the throat and I was really hoping it would do that for me! The album does have some great old-fashioned thrash metal tunes like ‘Meet your Maker’, ‘Mass Hysteria’ and ‘Breath Again’ which is the only song that really sticks in my head after a few listens. I feel as if the band decided to go into this album and played it safe, it seemed that they wanted to give something to the fans, which is great, but I would have much rather they took a little longer with the production and would have taken a few more risks musically! ‘This Present Wasteland’ is certainly not an album that will be to everyone’s taste. If you are a fan of the band’s past work, you will no doubt enjoy this but if you had never heard any of Metal Church’s previous work, I wouldn’t base your opinion of the band on just this album!
The Company of Sorrow
The Perfect Crime
Deeds of a Dead Soul
Meet Your Maker
Monster
Crawling to Extinction
A War Never Won
Mass Hysteria
Breathe Again
Congregation
Rating: 60
Reviewed By: Cameron Edney - http://www.myspace.com/insideout666ints