Kurdt Vanderhoof, guitarist for West coast thrash metal veterans, Metal Church, recently spoke with Heavy New York about the band's forthcoming album, Congregation Of Annihilation. Check out the interview below.

Vanderhoof on the new album featuring singer Marc Lopes, who is the replacement for the late Mike Howe:

"Mike and I had just started writing and working on a new album. And then, obviously, he passed away. Then there was a few months of trying to decide if I even wanted to continue. But then, when we decided to continue, it was kind of a step-by-step process. So when things started working with Marc, there was definitely much more aggressiveness in his vocals and his delivery, and that seemed like a good way to go. I didn't want a Mike clone. If we were gonna continue, I wanted to kind of have it be another chapter — something a little bit different. So, a good batch of the songs that I wrote with Mike in mind fell by the wayside, and a part of the album was brand new material, to fit with our new direction."

Congregation Of Annihilation features nine all new tracks from Metal Church and continues to build upon their iconic sound the band established over three decades ago. Infused with intelligent lyrical content, thundering guitar riffs, and Marc’s aggressive soaring vocals, Congregation Of Annihilation furthers the bands sonic evolution up to the next level and is guaranteed to enthrall metal music fans around the world.

From the first guitar riff of album opener “Another Judgement Day” through the driving outro of album closer “All That We Destroy,” it is clear Metal Church is back and better than ever. “Congregation Of Annihilation,” “Children Of The Lie”  and “These Violent Thrills” showcase the sonically charged songwriting that made the early Metal Church albums such fan favorites.

Haunting musical opuses “Me the Nothing” and “Making Monsters” each puts the musicianship that Metal Church was known for on full display in 2023. The album also features two bonus tracks: “My Favorite Sin” and “Salvation”.

Pre-order here.

Congregation Of Annihilation tracklisting:

"Another Judgement Day"
"Congregation Of Annihilation"
"Pick A God And Prey"
"Children Of The Lie"
"Me The Nothing"
"Making Monsters"
"Say A Prayer With 7 Bullets"
"These Violent Thrills"
"All That We Destroy"
"My Favorite Sin" (Bonus Track)
"Salvation" (Bonus Track)

“Making Monsters” visualizer:

"Pick A God And Prey" lyric video:

Born out of the West Coast Metal scene of the 80's, Metal Church quickly became one of the standout talents of the genre. After signing a deal with Elektra records, they released two critically acclaimed albums, their self-titled release Metal Church and The Dark. With the heavy metal scene starting to rise in the US, Metal Church set out on a very successful tour with label mates Metallica. They tackled political and social issues of the day with the releases of Blessing In Disguise and The Human Factor with vocalist Mike Howe.

At a time when heavy metal bands moved from the underground and became part of the hair band/pop fad, Metal Church stayed true to their roots. In March of 2016, Metal Church reunited with Mike Howe and released their eleventh studio album XI that reached #57 on the Billboard Top 200 and landed on several other charts around the globe. Metal Church’s next studio album Damned If You Do was the follow up to XI and landed on numerous charts around the globe in 2018. Now with Marc Lopes taking over vocal duties, Metal Church is ready to start a new chapter in their impressive canon with Congregation Of Annihilation.