METAL CHURCH — The Human Factor (review)

METAL CHURCH — The Human Factor album cover Album · 1991 · Heavy Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
UMUR
"The Human Factor" is the 4th full-length studio album by US power/heavy metal act Metal Church. The album was released through Epic Records in March 1991. It´s the successor to "Blessing in Disguise" from 1989 and features the exact same five-piece lineup who recorded the predecessor.

Stylistically "The Human Factor" pretty much continues the US power/heavy metal sound of "Blessing in Disguise (1989)", but it´s generally a bit harder edged, direct, and powerful than the predecessor. The band sound more energetic and play even more like a tight unit here, and lead vocalist Mike Howe now sounds fully integrated. His performance here is strong, passionate, and convincing.

The material on the 10 track, 51:36 minutes long album are well written, memorable, and powerful US power/heavy metal songs. "The Human Factor" is an album featuring very few misteps (Personally I could have done without the brief funky moments on "Date With Poverty"), and the songwriting is consistent in quality and musical style. There´s not a single sub par track featured on the album, and all tracks feature strong riffs, great solo work, a powerful playing rhythm section, and the above mentioned commanding passionate vocals by Howe. It all comes together in a great way and makes perfect sense in the soundscape.

"The Human Factor" also features a powerful, raw, and detailed sound production, which suits the material perfectly, and upon conclusion it´s a high quality US power/heavy metal release by Metal Church. "Blessing in Disguise (1989)" is mostly the album people mention when discussing Howe-led Metal Church, but to my ears "The Human Factor" is actually the better album of those two. Being released in 1991 probably meant the album didn´t receive as much attention as is should have, but that doesn´t change the fact that it´s a strong release and that a 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.
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