Review by Tymell for Metal Church - Metal Church (1984)

Metal Church's self-titled debut is one that you're just as likely to find in thrash metal lists as traditional heavy metal, and listening to it, it's easy to see why. Both why it gets lumped in with both styles, and why it appears in so many quality album lists!

For me, this one's classic heavy metal, but they make things nice and juicy by merging the core NWOBHM-influenced style with the razor-sharp edge and darker tone of emergent thrash metal. The end result is something catchy and varied in pace, but with loads of force behind its blows.

We have a number of songs dealing with darker themes, be it the splatter movie lyrics of "Nightmare" or the grim and effective lyrics of "Beyond the Black" painting a post-apocalyptic landscape; here, rather than glorifying the conflicts, we get a depressing picture of the impact of warfare:

Tanks are rolling in millions
See them come, and now they're gone
All the mountains are blackened
They said it came from just one bomb
No God please stop this bloody slaughter
Let it all repeat -- attack
All the masses are rebelling
To withstand the dark attack
Will we make it back beyond the black?
Will we make it back beyond?

There are also plenty of doses of speed in here, with tracks like instrumental "Merciless Onslaught", the aforementioned "Nightmare" or their deliciously sharp cover of "Highway Star" all hewing close to outright thrash. The title track tells its dark tale of the eponymous Metal Church with a stoic, determined march, emphasising the inescapable nature of it all.

If you fancy some classic metal with a bit more of a sinister edge to it and some glimpses of speed metal's shift into outright thrash, Metal Church's debut is a great example chock full of solid numbers.

Choice cuts: Beyond the Black, Gods of Wrath, Merciless Onslaught, Battalions, Highway Star