Review Summary: A fine album bogged down by a flawed execution
Following the tragic passing of vocalist Mike Howe in 2021, Metal Church is in a rather precarious position with their thirteenth album. True to their history of perseverance, the band has pushed forward with Ross the Boss singer Marc Lopes at the helm. They’ve even threatened a more aggressive approach reminiscent of their first two power-thrash opuses. Unfortunately, Congregation of Annihilation is a rocky listen even if you take those inherently unrealistic expectations out of the equation.
As much as I hate to pick on the new guy, the vocals are undeniably the album’s biggest obstacle. Metal Church’s singers have always balanced a mix of grit and melody and Lopes is certainly no exception, seemingly channeling David Wayne’s iconic screech in particular with a nasal impishness that reminds one of Helstar’s James Rivera. However, it often sounds like he’s trying too hard as the phrasings often sound garbled and the reaches for higher notes feel haphazard. It’s the sort of thing that would’ve been less noticeable with heavier instrumentation but is ultimately hard to ignore.
It doesn’t help that the songwriting tends to be somewhat pedestrian, largely opting for their usual blue collar classic metal flair. One can sense their thrash roots bubbling under Stet Howland’s pounding drums on the title track while “Pick a God and Pray” strives to be the second coming of “Ton of Bricks,” but these tracks and others like “These Violent Thrills” and “Making Monsters” just lack a certain spark that keeps from rising above serviceable. A song like “Me the Nothing” has an even harder time as the cleaner textures and slower tempos are undermined by the shrill delivery.
When it comes down to it, you do unfortunately feel the absence of Mike Howe here. Howe was always adept with his vocal lines, able to present them with very controlled, inventive patterns that were made even catchier by the oddly pleasant timbre in his bark that Lopes just doesn’t have in comparison. I doubt we were going to have some modern classic, especially when 2018’s Damned If You Do was largely decent fare, but a guy who could make the phonebook sound metal probably would’ve elevated some of these tracks.
Congregation of Annihilation could hardly be called an atrocity, it is ultimately a fine album bogged down by its flawed execution. It has a similar problem as 1999’s Masterpeace in that the melodic framing clashes with the more unhinged vocals and the songwriting just isn’t memorable enough to clear the hurdle. The band nonetheless remains recognizable and diehards will no doubt find some solid songs to get into. This lineup certainly has the chops to kill a greatest hits set, but one hopes a little more chemistry comes through next time around.
