UMUR
"Metal Church" is the debut full-length studio album by US power/heavy metal act Wayne. The album was released through Nuclear Blast Records in August 2001. Lead vocalist David Wayne formed the band after his ill-fated reunion with "Metal Church" which resulted in the recording and release of the 1999 "Metal Church" album "Masterpeace". The reunion ended in an acrimonious split.
Wayne however opted to continue playing a music style similar to his former band, and as if it wasn´t enough naming his debut solo album "Metal Church" and presenting the album with a cover artwork leading the listener´s thoughts toward early "Metal Church", former "Metal Church" guitarist Craig Wells is also part of the lineup and brings even more authentic "Metal Church" credibility to the project ...and indeed the material on the album sounds very similar to the early Wayne-fronted "Metal Church" albums.
Wayne has always been an incredibly powerful and raw sounding vocalist, and continues to be that on this album. He is backed here by a skilled and strong playing band, delivering sharp US power/heavy metal riffs, blistering solos, and a hard pounding rhythmic assault. Every track on the album is memorable and there is good variation between tracks. To my ears the album is frontloaded with the best material, and the quality drops just slightly along the way, but there is nothing of bad quality here and even the least interesting tracks are good quality US power/heavy metal.
"Metal Church" features a powerful, raw, and detailed sounding production job, and it´s overall just an album reeking class. Sadly this would be one of the last releases featuring Wayne on vocals as he died in 2005 from gangrene (complications from a car crash). For fans of early "Metal Church" this is not only a recommended listen...it´s a mandatory listen. A 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is deserved.