This Present Wasteland

TO THOSE WHO LIKE METAL CHURCH THIS IS AN EXCELLENT ALBUM. "PERFECT CRIME" STARTS JUST LIKE A CLASSIC METAL CHURCH SONG. "DEEDS OF A DEAD SOUL" IT IS LIKE THE SONG BADLANDS, A TRUE HEAVY METAL SONG. THE SOUND IS GREAT, IT BEATS ANY OF THE LAST THREE ALBUMS METAL PUT OUT. i JUST WISH RONNIE WILL PUT OUT AN ALBUM TOGETHER WITH SINGER MIKE HOWE AND THE OLD METAL CHURCH MEMBERS...YOU JUST HAVE TO IMAGINE THE GREAT COMBINATION....EITHER WAY, RONNIE DOES AN EXCELLENT JOB....THIS IS A CLASSIC METAL CHURCH ALBUM, SO BUY IT PLUS ALSO PROBABLY THE BEST METAL HAS SEEN IN YEARS...TOO BAD THE GROUP DISBANDED BUT I CAN SEE THEM COMING BACK WITH A MUCH BETTER ALBUM. IT SHOULD NOT BE FORGOTTEN, THAT THIS BAND CAME UP WITH SOME OF THE BEST METAL ALBUMS OF ALL TIME. THEIR MUSIC INSPIRED A LOT OF NEW HEAVY METAL SINGERS THESE DAYS. METAL CHURCH WAS THERE WHEN METALLICA WAS OUT AND THEY HAD GREAT SUCESS AT THE BEGINNING BUT IT WAS SHORT LIVED DUE TO THE FACT OF THE PROBLEMS THEY HAD WITH THE RELEASE OF THEIR ALBUMS. I COULD ALSO SAY THAT IF METAL CHURCH'S ALBUMS WOULD VE COME OUT BEFORE METALLICA'S ALBUMS, THEY WOULD VE MOST LIKELY BE MORE RECOGNIZED THESE DAYS AS THE PIONEERS OF METAL. FURTHERMORE, IF MIKE HOWE WOULD HAVE STAYED IN THE BAND, THEIR CAREER WOULD VE BEEN DIFFERENT DUE TO THE EXCELLENT VOICE THAT MAN BROUGHT TO THE BAND. COMPARING WITH OTHER METAL BANDS (I.E. METALLICA) MIKE HOWE HAS WAY BETTER VOICE THEN JAMES HETFIELD. MIKE HOWE COULD SING WHILE JAMES HETFIELD I THINK NEEDS TO GET VOICE REHAB JUST LIKE HE DID WITH HIS PROBLEMS. JAMES WAS AWFUL IN CONCERT, HE CANNOT SING, ITS THE AMPLIFIER THAT DOES THE WORK FOR HIM. BUT MAKING A LONG STORY SHORT, THIS ALBUM IS GREAT AND SHOULD BE IN YOUR METAL CHURCH COLLECTION EVEN THOUGH SOME OF THE PREVIOUS REVIWERS DO NOT AGREE. BUT AS AN ADVICE LISTEN TO THEM ON YOUTUBE, IT SHOULD GIVE YOU A BETTER IDEA OF THEIR MUSIC. METAL CHURCH FOREVER!!!!!!

The Ronny Munroe era was quite exciting. Each release got better and better with this being his last and what a performance! His voice gradually got stronger by each release as he was coming into his own with this album. His voice hasn't been more powerful and dynamic as this. I thought it was a different singer until the 5th track on the cd. Each track is signature. No fillers. Hard driving, heavy metal done the Vanderhoof way but this time the music a bit heavier, aggressive and technical. Like I said, this doesn't sound like your typical MC album. There's a great rocker tune called "Crawling to Extinction" which I thought was really cool and a bit out of their usual element of sound. I rate this a 5/5 because it's truly one of my all time faves of their catalog. This was the last purchase I made AFTER IX was released and I LOVED that album. To get a feel of how I grade this album with the others for validation, I'd say this ranks in my top 3 albums by them along with IX and MC. My least favorite being Hanging in the Balance. That's basically one album per singer. I hope that helps. This will be in my rotation very heavily.

I'm a fan of Metal Church, but the last 3 albums are a much different sound. The riffs are usually slower and the songs just sound long and drawn out. I think "Masterpeace" is a great album even though David Wayne stole the vocal melody from "Hole In The Sky" for "Falldown". At least that album sounds like an evolution of the first two albums. "This Present Wasteland" has some good and kinda thrashy riffs. It's not a bad album, it's just not exciting. I don't think it's Ronny Munroe's fault, I think Kurdt Vanderhoof was into a different style of metal when he decided to reform Metal Church for the Munroe era. I think it's weird that most reviews I look at, no matter what the album is, most of the feedback is over the top positive.

I love this album! I was hoping that Spotify or Amazon Music would have it but they don't. Needless to say, putting on this CD was a fantastic blast from the past! The drums, the riffs, the VOCALS!

My quick thoughts are this - it's a good offering of new Metal Church, but other than a few songs (In the company of sorrow, monster and war never won), it's kind of lacking. Nothing jumps out at you or says "yes, this is awesome."I'm sure I will listen to this CD from time to time, but in reality....there isn't anything to make someone come back to it. No killer riffs, catchy choruses, etc...I will say, the cover (done by a fan), is awesome!

This album simply rocks. Every song is solid, with no throwaways. The title track leads off and is probably the strongest song. By far their best effort since Ronny Munro has taken over the vocals. Wish they were able to tour right away, but Kurt Vanderhoof's back is acting up, so their tour is on hold for six months.If you are a Metal Church fan, you will love this. Do not hesitate to buy it. Well worth the $$$$.

im only new listening to metal church but ive found them to be gritty with great vocals and good guitars ! I think this album is recorded live but I think it adds to the sound being tight and nice and bassy ! great album

this is not horrible but it misses the mark by a mile not the same old metal church ( heavy,fast,powerful and Melodic ) I can't figure why there is such a revolving door with this band and musicians? When you change so much it's a loss you lose your Chemistry too many original musicans Kurdt Vanderhoof ,Mike Howe ,Duke Erickson , Craig Wells, Kirk Arrington -David Wayne , John Marshall all these band member brought something to the table but I don't hear that with the newer band members from2000 and up. sorry but they don't sound Remotely the same and it's very disapointing.

A very good cd from Metal Church, excellent.

Excellent album and band

Nachdem doch mäßigen, (wenn auch nicht schlechten) Vorgänger schieben MC hier ein deutlich besseres Teil nach, als von manachen erwartet wurde.Ronny Munroe war nun endlich gesanglich angekommen und lieferte seine beste Leistung ab.Musikalisch wird wieder sehr guten Heavy Metal geboten, wenn auch melodischer als zu Anfangstagen.Songs wie "Deeds of a Dead Soul", "The Company of Sorrow", "Crawling to Extinction" sind klasse.Die beiden melodischsten Songs "Breathe Again" und "Congregation" (hat was von Maiden), sind am Ende der CD und passen sehr gut ins Gesamtkonzept der Platte.Abzüge gibt es für die nicht ganz dolle Produktion und den ein oder anderen schwächeren Song.Insgesamt aber ein sehr gutes Metal Church Album

Die neue " Metal Church" ist guter Power Metal. Nicht mehr, aber auch nicht weniger. Die Songs besitzen alle durchweg eine gewisse Power, biedern sich keinem Trend an und sind kompositorisch auch größtenteils gut bis in Ordnung. Zugegebenermaßen sind aber leider auch keine Oberhämmer auf der Platte vertreten, wie sie die Kirche des Metals früher abgeliefert hat. Zudem ist der Sound, wegen des wohl niedrigen Budgets der Band ( man verkauft halt nimmer so gut), ziemlich dünn und wenig differenziert. Mister Munroe macht beim Gesang wahrlich, so meine Meinung, eine gute Figur. Seine Scrams und der rauhe melodische Gesang passen für mich sehr gut zum Metal Church Sound und ersetzen Mike Howes Organ doch zumindest ebenbürtig.Lange Rede, kurzer Sinn: Sicherlich hat Mastermind Vanderhoof mit seiner Aushängeband sein Zenit der ganz großen Taten überschritten. Aber selbst ein mittelmäßiger Output seiner Band kann es mit fast allen zur Zeit existierenden Power Metal Kapellen aufnehmen.Ich bin ein Fan der ersten Stunde und für mich ist dieses Album zwar kein Vergleich mit den alten Göttergaben wie z.B."The dark" oder "Hanging the balance", jedoch immer noch mindestens gut.Also vier von fünf Punkten.

Eine Gewohnheit - nämlich die, manchmal in AMAZON nach guter Musik zu suchen... zu Blättern und hineinzuhören - hat sich ausgezahlt. Einige CD's der Band, welche ich mir anhörte, gefielen mir nicht zu 100% - "This present Wastland" scheint (was aber auch Geschmacksache ist)somit eine wohltuende Ausnahme der Band zu sein. Mein Tipp lautet also: mir nachmachen - hört euch verschiedene CD's der Band an, und entscheidet dann... möglich, dass ihr dann zu einem ähnlichen Ergebnis kommt wie ich - ich finde die CD jedenfalls harmonisch. Sie ist weder zu hart oder zu extrem - sie ist, wie ein guter Wein - ausgereift, und hat, um ein altes Schema aufzugreifen - Gold verdient!