Metal Church : nouveau line-up

[Mordor]

[Everflow]

Kurdt Vanderhoof a recruté du lourd avec Dave Ellefson à la basse, Ken Mary à la batterie (une brute), et Brian Allen au chant.
Trois remplacements d'un coup quand même.

West Coast heavy metal veterans METAL CHURCH return with a revitalized lineup and a hard-hitting new single that underscores the sound that has driven their four-decade legacy. The new formation features founding guitarist Kurdt Vanderhoof alongside longtime guitarist Rick Van Zandt, joined by bass icon David Ellefson (MEGADETH),powerhouse drummer Ken Mary (FLOTSAM AND JETSAM, FIFTH ANGEL, ALICE COOPER, HOUSE OF LORDS, TKO, CHASTAIN) and dynamic new vocalist Brian Allen (VICIOUS RUMORS).

Following the band's recent tour and return from Australia, METAL CHURCH found themselves at a crossroads. An unexpected spark reignited Kurdt's creative drive, prompting him to reach out to the musicians who would ultimately shape the group's next chapter. Their chemistry in the studio gave rise to the blistering new track "F.A.F.O." — a song that immediately energized the band and inspired them to continue writing and recording. The new single was produced by Vanderhoof and mixed/mastered by Chris "Zeuss" Harris at Planet Z. Those sessions have now evolved into a brand-new METAL CHURCH album, set for release in 2026 via Rat Pak Records. Additional details will be announced soon.

Vanderhoof comments: "After 45 years, the fact that we have new music coming in 2025 feels like a miracle. There was a time when I honestly didn't think METAL CHURCH would continue, but we're back — and this lineup is firing on all cylinders. I can't tell you how excited I am to have a new single on the way; that alone makes this moment incredibly special. 'F.A.F.O.' is an aggressive thrasher, and I think the fans are really going to dig it. We certainly do — otherwise it wouldn't be METAL CHURCH."

[metalrunner]

Il est partout David sauf dans la megamort

[metal militia]

Trop de remplacements peuvent tuer un groupe. Retrouve t'on l'esprit de Metal Church? Sur ce titre, cela ne sonne plus trop comme le Metal Church que j'appréciais. Rien que le chant de Brian Allen est clivant. Perso, rien qu'en un titre, il me saoule déjà. (Difficile de remplacer Mike Howe). J'aurais encore préféré qu'ils rappellent Ronny Munroe

[Mordor]

J'ai connu Metal Church avec Wayne, Mike Howe a bien remplacé, mais après ça ne m'intéresse plus.

[Piranha]

Ouai pas ouf (comme le dernier Vicious d'ailleurs).
C'est presque plus la compo que le chant qui me dérange en fait

[Everflow]

Rien que le chant de Brian Allen est clivant.

Je le trouvais très bon et versatile dans Vicious Rumors, mais sur ce titre il sonne trop comme un David Wayne du pauvre à mon goût.

[metalrunner]

Même analyse que Ever moi ca ne me dérange pas si il font une tournée the Dark pour les 40 ans

[Everflow]

Marc Lopes qui chantait sur le précédent album affirme que lui et les autres musiciens ont appris dans la presse qu'ils ne faisaient plus partie du groupe et que Metal Church avait un tout nouveau line-up. Aucune communication depuis plus d'un an. Il l'a très mauvaise...

Vanderhoof a répondu poliment, sans contredire ses accusations.

Says Lopes, “Yeah, the elephant in the room is definitely that for most of 2025 there was… nobody knew what was going on with Metal Church. When Metal Church canceled the tour in 2024, there was a lot of things going on behind the scenes that we didn’t make public, obviously. People get mad, people have disagreements, and we kind of just let things lay for where they were in hopes that maybe we could have a conversation, like adults should. If there’s a disagreement, resolve it one way or the other, right? Whether it’s yes or no, or whatever the case may be. But there was no communication for that whole time. And I did a lot of interviews and a lot of people would always ask, and when I said I didn’t know it was, it was the truth — I did not know.

“The last thing that I had heard… I kind of gotta be honest and be 100% honest, there was definitely some half truths to what was going on, and I went along with it only because I didn’t feel… You know, I still felt that there needed to be conversations before anything could be said, you know? So, I had a lot of… I definitely wasn’t a happy person. So, you know, personally, I had to deal with a lot of inner demons when it comes to that stuff, because I worked so hard, and to just not get any kind of respect of an answer for anything, no matter what it was after the amount of work that I put into that band, that didn’t go over too well with me for a long time. So, that was always in the back of my mind. I wish it wouldn’t have overtaken me as much as it did, but my passion for what I do is so intense, that’s the part that bothered me. Financially, that sucked too, but again, like we talked… make it up in other ways. So it really wasn’t that.

“In a nutshell, now we’ve come out to where we are now, it’s basically no integrity. The cowardice of not confronting any of the issues, whether good or bad, it didn’t matter, in my book, that doesn’t work. That doesn’t fly. If there’s an issue, no matter what it is, either you freaking take it out in the school yard, so to say, or you have that discussion and each person goes, ‘fuck you,’ and that’s the end of it. But when that doesn’t even happen, that’s a tough nail to bite. And then, obviously, the conclusion of it is to find out everything on the Internet. That was the ultimate ‘fuck you.’ And that does not bide well with me personally, which will be addressed in another time.

“But, yeah, so that was a big, huge thing. And thankfully, I was still able to play and do stuff with Ross [The Boss], which I’m eternally grateful for, and it was awesome. But, yeah, it definitely was a rough year coming off the tail end of that. And then, obviously, towards the end of the year when all that other stuff came out, I definitely wouldn’t say I would wanna be in the same room as me. But we got through it and it’s all cool. But, in a strange kind of way, out of that, amazing stuff happened.”

Towards the end of the interview, Lopes was asked, “The state of Metal Church, where it stands, is there is there any movement or is it still like a stagnant thing?

Marc responds, “Oh, no, dude. They announced a whole new lineup, new single, new album. Oh, yeah. That’s all done. They totally bamboozled us. And, yeah, it’s pretty, pretty disgusting what happened. You know, it’s kind of funny. Obviously, somebody always likes to tag you on something and I saw one comment that made me fucking laugh. They’re, like, ‘Oh, he knew, and he’s just playing victim.’ I’m, like, ‘Listen, motherfucker, you have no fucking idea, ’cause you’re not in it. You’re not involved in it. And I can tell you right now, right fucking right here, I’m not playing victim.’ Fucking victim of what? That whole thing was a shit show from day one, if you wanna know the truth, you know what I mean? But to not have conversations and get totally slighted like that, especially in public, and then saying that we quit? Yeah, nobody fucking quit. Nobody was fired. You just threw it under the table, like what we were talking about. And you know what? Honestly, that’s the only thing that bothered me, you know, you think that you are working with people that are supposed to be comrades, you’re with them on tour day to day, and then they just totally blow you off and disregard, like not even having a conversation to even say, ‘Hey, look, you know what? We’re gonna go in another direction,’ or, ‘We don’t agree with this or what that was.’ But not to have that? Let’s just put it this way, it was business, business. That’s all I’m gonna say, it was business that the whole thing started to crumble. And it didn’t have to end like that.”

METAL CHURCH's founding guitarist Kurdt Vanderhoof has released a statement apparently addressing recent comments by the band's former singer Marc Lopes in which the vocalist referred to METAL CHURCH as "a shit show" and lamented the lack of "respect" Marc was given after he after recording just one album with the veteran metal band, 2023's "Congregation Of Annihilation".

Earlier today (Friday, January 9),Kurdt posted the following message on the METAL CHURCH social media: "Hey friends! As with any band, sometimes things just stop working and you have to move on, no matter what the cost and no matter what people are going to say or think about you, including former bandmates. It's just that simple.

"I am continuing to do what I've been doing since I formed METAL CHURCH 46 years ago, writing albums and releasing music. If you love that, great, if not, that's ok too. If you love any of the former band members, that's also great, then go support their musical endeavors and be thankful for new music. I personally have nothing negative to say about them, I wish them all the luck. I'm just happy to be where I am at now, with great musicians that I respect and I look forward to performing live with. That's all I have to say about it."