Metal Church

Hailing from San Francisco, the heavy metal band Metal Church, which has undergone numerous personnel changes and lost its lead singer David Wayne in 2005, has nevertheless continued its career. Reunited in 1980, guitarist Kurdt Vanderhoof's band, which in its early days was home to future Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich, has expanded its audience with every release since its 1984 debut album of the same name. After The Dark, the second album with David Wayne (1986), followed Blessing in Disguise (1989), Human Factor (1991) and Hanging in the Balance (1993), with new singer Mike Howe and guitarist John Marshall. In 1998, a first live album, recorded in 1986 with David Wayne, inaugurated the collaboration with the Nuclear Blast label, followed by the return of the first singer on Masterpeace (1999). The 2000s saw a number of new departures, including that of singer David Wayne, before his death in a car accident on May 10, 2005, at the age of 47. Replaced by Ronny Munroe, Metal Church released the albums The Weight of the World (2004), A Light in the Dark (2006), This Present Wasteland (2009) and Generation Nothing (2013), after a brief separation. In 2016, the album XI saw the return of Mike Howe on vocals, also featured on Damned If You Do (2018). The band's singer between 1988 and 1996, and again since 2015, Mike Howe, who had also worked with Heretic and Snair, took his own life on July 26, 2021 at the age of 55. In the summer of 2022, the band hired former Ross the Boss and Let Us Prey member Marc Lopes, with whom they recorded their thirteenth album Congregation of Annihilation (2023). Three years later, a new singer named Brian Allen officiates on the fourteenth studio album Dead to Rights.