Review Summary: Fucking around and finding out
While the lineup overhaul that comes with Metal Church’s fourteenth album parallels 2004’s The Weight Of The World, I can’t help but notice a few red flags cropping up here in comparison. The band fractured yet again in the wake of 2023’s Congregation Of Annihilation with guitarists Kurdt Vanderhoof and Rick Van Zandt as the lone holdovers. The new recruits including drummer Ken Mary, bassist Dave Ellefson, and vocalist Brian Allen prove to be their own can of worms.
As expected, Dead To Rights continues down the more aggressive direction set by the last album and even seems to improve on it in some regards. Allen performs much of the same David Wayne-inspired yelps and snarls as his predecessor but is considerably better at doing so, exerting more control over his voice as the harsher dips and higher wails are a lot less shouty in comparison. Mary’s drumming is also pretty relentless, providing the bashing that helped give Flotsam And Jetsam’s recent output some of its extra fire.
However, these improvements don’t really extend to the songwriting as many of the tracks seem to be just going through the usual motions. Some of the boomer thrash lyrics on songs like the opening “Brainwash Game” and “F.A.F.O.” (Hey guys, Exodus wants their title back) are eye roll inducing, but there at least aren’t as many instances of tracks getting bogged down by actively grating vocal lines. On the flip side, there aren’t too many standout tracks either as familiar templates just don’t have the memorable hooks to really push them through as something like the mid-tempo “Feet To The Fire” just feels like a retread of something like “Sky Falls In.”
Dead To Rights ultimately isn’t a dumpster fire but to say that it’s a hair better than Metal Church’s weakest albums is faint praise. The tighter musicianship makes it feel more cohesive than Congregation Of Annihilation and I can imagine some enthusiasm for the band continuing to pursue a thrashier direction. But at the same time, the songwriting doesn’t have enough memorability to really give the spark a better sense of direction. With each new release, it becomes apparent that something in Metal Church died with Mike Howe.
