•
Rating: Here we are, it's 1999 and the sixth album of the "Metal Church" is released, named "Masterpeace"; a perfectly fitting title as it is a true masterpiece of Heavy Metal in an era where many people had largely forgotten the real meaning of this word!
After six long years of silence, during which all the band's metal fans and enthusiasts of the genre remained on tenterhooks due to the persistent rumors of an imminent disbanding of the American band. But no, here they are, returning more aggressive than ever, with a strong desire for redemption and to once again give a new lesson of Metal!
The band, as I already mentioned, left us six years prior with a work that was just about satisfactory and not very exuberant, titled "Hanging In The Balance" from 1993, but with this album we see the return of leader/guitarist "Kurdt Vanderhoof" (this time as an integral part of the band for the first time since 1989 and not just as a supervisor) & the former singer "Wayne" as if from another dimension; no one expected the return of the singer who recorded the band's first albums, including the eponymous "Metal Church, The Dark & Blessing In Disguise." A very wise move, the work reveals itself to be a remarkable return to origins; the album itself is very hard, energetic, bone-crushing and will make you want to "Headbang" the old-fashioned way, with dark and very syncopated rhythms FURIOUS TO THE MAX AND ESPECIALLY VICIOUS.
The opener of this work is "Sleep With Thunder", with the drums opening on a stone-crushing riff, characterized by repeated chords that make the rhythms quite syncopated, with drums and guitar side by side for a good part of the beginning, never changing rhythms but with a truly remarkable conciseness; like almost everything else in the album in the end; as these characteristics just mentioned are the features that will unite the various track lists amongst themselves, which will also be well blended in their entirety. Pieces like "Falldown; Lb. Of Cure; Faster Than Life; They Signed In Blood" will have a disarming compactness. "Into Dust" is the third track, a moderately powerful piece where the powerful guitar chords are alternated with brief moments of classical guitar arpeggios, then providing one of the most passionate solos "Vanderhoof" has ever done!!
"Masterpeace" is the slow piece of the album or at least for the first part, as even in this track list the tones will gradually rise, bringing it back to the initial scheme of the album, "All Your Sorrows" is the seventh track, a piece which, in my opinion, is of deadly power and unique aggressiveness (just this track in terms of aggressiveness and concreteness technique, will be worth the two boring albums of the "Church" that will follow!!). The drummer "K. Arrington" in this track list will offer one of his best performances ever, with all the instruments opening the track together with four discharges articulated in three times each, then plunging into a hell of solos and technique and especially in a speedy counter-time drum! This album also contains a very driven cover in metal key of the famous "Aerosmith" song (Toys In The Attic).
The masterpiece or "Masterpeace" will close with the piece "Sand Kings" with a vaguely oriental intro. This ultimately remains the last truly optimal work by "Metal Church", the last album truly worth considering (at least until now, barring some miracle!!). An indispensable CD, a true explosion of energy, in my opinion one of the best after the firsts as well as the best of the '90s. Absolutely unmissable for fans of the genre!!!!
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Sleeps With Thunder (06:01)
[K. Vanderhoof]
Is it just the Things you see that make it all worth while
Put your God into a box and keep him by your side
Hopeless is the refugee escaping from the truth
The mothership has passed you by now
there's nothing you can do
My time is finished here
Now choose what you must do
My eyes have shed the tears
And paid the price for you
Many here have seen the light
The devil sits and wonders
The man who keeps his heart a stone
Is the man who sleeps with thunder
Monuments and shrines are built to spirits that deceive
Soft associations with the angels you believe
Soon to find your friendly guides have lead you far astray
Now you walk in blackest night you never learned to pray
In your mind you pacify
Tricks and tales and lullabyes
Now you bid your soul goodbye
When you climb that mountain while the rain is coming round
The peak is only visible on your way back down
Everyone will tell you what it is you should believe
But hearing what you want to hear will give you no relief
03 Into Dust (04:15)
[D. Wayne / K. Vanderhoof]
When everythings coming up roses
The thorns will still leave scars on my hands
Just pour me a scotch and a soda
I'll get drunk and I'll act like a man
I gotta get some of that magic
I hear the voices calling
A song I dare not trust
And all my sleepless dreaming
It all turns into dust
I stopped all the screaming and crying
And yet I still don't understand
When all that you live for is dying
An hourglass empty of sand
I gotta be someone less tragic
I hear the wind is calling
A song I dare not trust
And all my sleepless dreaming
It all turns into dust
In lifeless shadows dreaming
My life is left un-feeling
And yet beyong this door
There must be more
My freedoms become too expensive
The price is much more than you see
But freedom creates an illusion
The freedom to save me from me
I gotta get some of that magic
I hear the voices calling
08 All Your Sorrows (05:40)
[D. Wayne / K. Vanderhoof]
Times like these to people please
Fables spread like some disease
New age gods like old facades
Write a book
You'll like the odds
Inventing gods
Old facades
Take apart human heart you will start
Through the doorway of all your sorrows
Beginning to pull you away
In the night the sometimes light
The seasons which run out of time
When I press this game of chess
I always end with something less
You've made a mess
Of your Sunday best
In search of the answers, what never should be
Laughter erupts from primordial sea
Standing there naked with bended knee
All of your works face eternity
So though I play the same each day
When faced with pain I often pray
Take my hand you'll understand
The place we go is no-mans land
Loading comments slowly
