Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Metal Church
Label: Rat Pak Records
Release: 2017
Length: 58:17
Rating: 2.5/5
Metal Church are American metal legends that anyone digging into the evolution of metal is bound to run into sooner or later, slowly working their way back through the years to the early eighties, when metal in all its forms started blossoming across the whole planet.
Metal Church are legends of American metal, but to this day they haven’t served up many live releases. The cult recording from 1986, which SPV Records put out in 1999 under the title »Live«, has remained the alpha and omega of the band’s live output. The recording of that legendary club show in Dallas captures the band in its strongest lineup and at the peak of its career. The more meticulous fans would also mention »Live in Japan«, which came out at almost the same time as »Live« but only on the Japanese market, documenting the band’s shows on the Japanese leg of the 1995 tour, in a totally different lineup back then, of course, one that didn’t include, for example, guitarist Kurt Vanderhoof, the founder of Metal Church.
The years rolled by, lineup changes became a fixture of the band, then in 2005 original singer David Wayne passed away, and the band, with a few breaks along the way, kept itself active with new studio material that held on to the credibility and greatness of the golden eighties era
Anyway. For the excellent new studio album »XI«, screamer Mike Howe returned to the lineup, and in 2016 the band did a run of summer festival shows across Europe, recording them as they went and deciding to release them as a new live document.
The band put together an interesting setlist for this tour, throwing in some treats from the late eighties too, when Mike Howe was already singing for them, while dropping the classic Gods of Wrath, which really shouldn’t be neglected in the band’s iron repertoire. Still, the band does deliver a colorful setlist that covers every era of their career. Led by the superb mini-suite Watch the Children Pray, which keeps company on the setlist with another »The Dark« classic, Start the Fire. Howe’s return to the vocal spot also brings back songs from »Blessing in Disguise« (Badlands) and »The Human Factor« (the title track, Date With Poverty, In Morning). The band blasted out a real candy from the self-titled debut »Metal Church«, Beyond the Black. Metal Church also caught us off guard by working in Gods of Second Chance and No Friend of Mine, from the (often unjustly) overlooked »Hanging In Balance«. Of course, Metal Church also played material from the latest album »XI« at these shows (songs like Reset, Killing Time and No Tomorrow), but they left it off this live document, otherwise its title would lose its meaning. They also played Fake Healer from »Blessing in Disguise«, which didn’t find a spot on the release in its live form either, although the very same song turns up at the tail end of the album in a studio version. Newly recorded, with a special guest on vocals, current Queensryche singer Todd La Torre.
It’s an ambitiously conceived project, but »Classic Live« is a live document that doesn’t deliver the best that could be expected. First and foremost, the sound picture is mostly lopsided, with Mike Howe’s vocals sounding as if he were standing a mile away from the instrumental part of the band on stage. Beyond that, you have to fault the band for playing the songs noticeably differently than they used to, especially when it comes to the solos and the transitions, and the live atmosphere that gets built is rigid, without real dynamics, with the guitars in particular sounding rather stiff and sluggish. As if the quintet weren’t all that well locked in with each other energy-wise. On top of that, Howe often gets pushed out of the ideal spot on the vocal lines, often too high, even by a half tone, or he simply runs out of steam in places where he should have kept a firm grip on the vocal performance. Sloppiness, in other words, and it’s very annoying when listening to this live album.
This release proves that, when it comes to live shows, Metal Church are still a club band today and that they don’t handle big stages (in the new lineup) all that well. Which makes it all the more surprising that Metal Church didn’t decide to record the later autumn shows across North America that same year, played in clubs, and pick the best live moments from those. The sound on »Classic Live« is only conditionally acceptable for a release sold under the »official bootleg« label.
Given its reputation, tenure and mileage, the band deserves better, and so do its fans, who this time will have to swallow some bitterness in the sound and the performance. The album »Live« (1999) thus remains a live classic in every respect. Not just for the band’s own discography, but for the reach of metal music worldwide. It stays that good even when you listen to it in 2017, which proves once again that »Classic Live« didn’t quite achieve its intended purpose and goals.
Lineup
Mike Howe – vocals
Kurdt Vanderhoof – guitar
Rick Van Zandt – guitar
Steve Unger – bass
Jeff Plate – drums
SPECIAL GUEST:
Todd La Torre (Queensryche) – vocals on track 10
Production
Metal Church
Tracklist
01. Beyond The Black
02. Date With Poverty
03. Gods Of A Second Chance
04. In Mourning
05. Watch The Children Pray
06. Start The Fire
07. No Friend Of Mine
08. Badlands
09. Human Factor
10. Fake Healer*
*…. studio version
