This coming summer, Metal Church will make its way along the U.S.’ East Coast in support of its latest album, Dead to Rights. The band’s 14th album (outlets reporting it as the band’s 13th are wrong), it came April 10 via its current label home Rat Pak Records, less than three years after the release of its then latest album, Congregation of Annihilation. Spanning 10-songs in its standard edition (the expanded edition includes an 11th, bonus track), this 47-minute record (again in its standard edition) is a positive new offering from the veteran hard rock band. That is due in part to the record’s featured musical arrangements. The lyrical themes that accompany the album add to the record’s success. The record’s production puts the final touch to its presentation. When it is considered alongside the presentation’s overall content, the whole therein makes Dead to Rights one more positive offering from Metal Church that the band’s established audiences and casual audiences alike will appreciate.
Dead to Rights, the latest full-length studio recording from Metal Church, is a strong new outing for the veteran hard rock act. The album succeeds in part through its featured musical arrangements. From the album’s opener to its end, the arrangements featured throughout the record make for plenty for audiences to appreciate. Right from the outset, ‘Brainwash Game,’ audiences get a song that is one part power metal and one part thrash. Guitarists Rick Van Zandt and Kurdt Vanderhoof combine to make for a hard hitting performance in their own right while vocalist Brian Allen’s performance blends elements of Rob Halford, Udo Dirkschneider, and even Rob Dukes for a presence that is unique to say the very least. That unique vocal presence carries throughout the course of the album, too, making for plenty for audiences to appreciate just in that aspect.
‘F.A.F.O.’ (which stands for F*** Around and Find Out) takes more of a thrash lean than the album’s opener. Though, there are still some power metal and hard rock leanings throughout, subtle as they may be. Drummer Ken Mary’s work on the drums here deserves its own praise especially as he switches back and forth between the hi-hat and ride throughout the up-tempo composition. Van Zandt’s guitar solo and his general performance makes for plenty of enjoyment, too.
As the album progresses into its third entry, ‘Dead to Rights,’ what audiences get is a sort of vintage thrash style work in the vein of classic Anthrax, Megadeth and Metallica. At the same time, the group’s collective work ensures the composition maintains its own identity, even as Allen even makes his performance so close in sound and style to that of Dave Mustaine. Dave, if you read this, take note. It is impressive.
The album’s next two tracks – ‘Deep Cover Shakedown’ and ‘Feet to the Fire’ – take the album in a more mainstream hard rock direction, changing things up just enough as the record’s first half closes out. As the album’s second half opens, the band starts to move back in a thrash direction albeit subtly in ‘The Show.’ That blend of hard rock and thrash here is a smart move. It makes the song a solid transition point for the record. This is especially obvious as the album’s second half progresses into ‘Heaven Knows (Slip Away).’ The album’s seventh entry, it picks up the intensity even more again, showing the clear thought put into the record’s sequencing. ‘No Memory,’ (track eight) maintains that intensity with yet more vintage thrash that still maintains its own modern edge. The band maintains that modern hard rock edge, very much again in the vein of Megadeth in ‘Wasted Time,’ the record’s penultimate entry.
As the album closes out in ‘My Wrath,’ the band offers listeners quite the surprise. Van Zandt opens the song with a decidedly bluesy hard rock riff before the rest of the band joins in and moves things back in that familiar thrash direction. One would think the two sounds and styles would not work but somehow the group manages to make it work and successfully so. Looking back at this and the record’s other entries, the whole of Dead to Rights’ musical body is certain to keep audiences engaged and entertained throughout the course of its nearly 50-minute run time.
Building on the appeal of the record’s musical body is the lyrical content that accompanies said material. ‘The Show’ is just one of so many examples of the importance of the album’s lyrical themes. In the case of this song, the theme would seem to be that familiar theme of the forces that control us and keep us divided. This is just this critic’s interpretation and comes as Allen sings in the song’s lead verse and chorus, “Keep the peasant trained/And throw them away/Just want to know how much they will obey/Right about the time they realize/We run the show and will change disguise/Right now/You’ll see/What we want you to see/Your mind is mine/And we can make you blind/In time you’ll know/What we want you to know/So now it’s time to start the show.” That very statement from the unseen force that “We run the show and will change disguise” certainly seems to point to that inference especially alongside the opening note of keeping “the peasant trained.” Those in power use those of us in “lower levels” and throw us away in a moment. Those in power continue to control things and as soon as we the masses start to realize what’s up, they change things up and make us se what they want us to see and believe.
The seeming commentary continues as Allen sings in the song’s second verse, “You won’t want to leave/Stay right where you are/happy in your room/A sugar-poisoned jar/Thinking for yourself/That will never fly/Social credit score/Your freedom waves goodbye.” In other words, “you will be happy in your station/Don’t try to do anything more/Don’t think for yourself/That will never fly. We don’t want you to do that.” Once again, here certainly seems to be metaphorical language regarding the control that those in power want to maintain. If in fact that is the case then it is a unique way to address such a familiar topic. It makes this song just one example of the importance of the album’s lyrical content.
‘Brainwash Game,’ the album’s opener, is another solid example of the importance of the record’s lyrical themes. In the case of this song, the seeming theme is another familiar matter, that of people who make themselves the victims in life; those who sit around feeling sorry for themselves. Again, this is just this critic’s interpretation. The seeming theme is delivered as Allen sings in the song’s lead verse and chorus, “Watching and waiting/The world is frustrating/Having your life pass you by/Nothing you’re doing/And everyone’s losing/While others have endless supply/Guardian angels coming alive/Always waiting/Lighting up the sky/Brainwash game/Feel no shame/You’re gonna lose it every time/Brainwash game/Yourself to blame/This is no victimless crime.” This certainly points at someone who is feeling depressed, seeing others keep succeeding while we sit idly, feeling sorry for ourselves, we have only ourselves to blame. It comes across as that motivation to pick ourselves up and make our own way.
The seeming commentary continues in the second verse, which states, “Winning or losing/It’s all so confusing/When you don’t know wrong from right/The path you are choosing/The truth you’re refusing/Society’s new parasite.” That mention of refusing the truth, choosing one’s path, certainly seems to point back to the noted inference about people sitting around feeling sorry for themselves as they would rather ignore the truth that they have only themselves to blame when everyone else is succeeding. If in fact this overall interpretation is somewhere in the proverbial ballpark then it is another powerful message that so many people need. Yes, it comes across as some “tough love” but maybe some people need that tough discussion. Keeping that in mind, it is yet another example of the importance of the album’s lyrical content.
Yet one more example of the importance of the album’s lyrical content comes in the form of the album’s closer, ‘My Wrath.’ This song comes across as one of those familiar songs that centers on someone who is just fed up with the actions of another. We have all dealt with that person and sadly may even still do just that. This seeming theme is inferred as Allen sings in the song’s lead verse and chorus, “Wide awake/With anger in my heart/Don’t you mess with me/You will cease to be/You can’t take it/You have played your part/Look into my eyes/To doubt would be unwise/You have your head up in the clouds/And buried in the sand/And you still have no clue/On what it takes/To be a man/You will feel my wrath.” This certainly comes across as that anger being vented about that other upsetting person. To that end, if it is then it is certainly one of those therapeutic works that will help people in dealing with such individuals in their own lives.
The subject’s anger at that other person is just as fiery in the song’s second verse, which states, “There’s no reason for you to speak your mind/No one’s listening/Your voice is sickening/Youre’ just a freak of nature anyway/get that nonsense out of here/You shall disappear/You keep on talking/Your life is over/Go ahead and make your funeral plans/You will feel my wrath/I hear your demons screaming/For you there is no redeeming.” Again this certainly points to a theme of frustration with a clearly very toxic personality. It is a fully relatable topic that is delivered in fully accessible fashion. When it is coupled with the fire in the song’s musical arrangement, its impact is enhanced, making for even more impact. When the whole therein is considered along with the apparent themes in the album’s other songs examined here and that whole with the rest of the album’s lyrical content, no doubt is left as to the importance of the album’s overall lyrical content. When that content is paired alongside the album’s overall musical content, the whole makes for more than enough reason for audiences to take in this album.
Putting the final touch to the album is its production. The time and effort put into the balance of the instrumental and vocal performances throughout the album fully paid off. Each musician’s performance complimented that of his fellow performer’s work, with the result being a fully immersive presentation whose aesthetic is just as impressive as that ensured through the album’s overall content. When the whole is considered collectively, it leaves Dead to Rights a definite welcome new offering from Metal Church and one more welcome addition to this year’s field of new hard rock and metal albums.
Dead to Rights, the latest album from Metal Church, is a strong new offering from the veteran hard rock band. Its success comes in part through its musical arrangements, which exhibit the band’s familiar blend of hard rock and thrash. The sequencing thereof makes for just as much to appreciate here, too. The lyrical themes that accompany the album’s musical arrangements add their own appeal to the whole thanks to the unique delivery of the familiar topics delivered and to the noted topics themselves. The record’s production ensures a fully positive aesthetic to the record, making sure that the album is worth hearing as much for that aspect as for its content. Each item examined is important in its own way to the whole of the album. All things considered they make Dead to Rights one more welcome addition to this year’s already very crowded field of new hard rock and metal albums.
Metal Church’s North American tour in support of Dead to Rights is scheduled to launch July 18 in Derry, NH and to run through July 26 in Leesburg, VA. Performances in Newton, NJ; Rochester, NY and Reading, PA are also included in the East coast run. A series of North American festival performances are also scheduled for later this summer. More information on the band’s upcoming live dates is available along with all of the band’s latest news at:
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