It's Official: METAL CHURCH Enlists ROSS THE BOSS And LET US PREY Vocalist MARC LOPES

METAL CHURCH has officially enlisted ROSS THE BOSS and LET US PREY vocalist Marc Lopes to sing for the band following the passing of Mike Howe less than two years ago.

Earlier today (Thursday, February 2),METAL CHURCH guitarist Kurdt Vanderhoof shared a photo of Lopes on social media and wrote in an accompanying message: "Yes, the rumors are true, it's official! Please welcome vocalist Marc Lopes to the congregation!

"We auditioned a handful of vocalists and while they were all great, Marc quickly became the clear choice.

"Both David Wayne and Mike Howe had a very unique, irreplaceable quality to their voices, so we were not looking for a clone of either. We wanted someone new, who could embrace the past, and also bring something fresh and exciting to the mix.

"Marc brings a very classic yet modern feel to the songs and we are looking forward to getting this new album out to you later this year!

"Thank you for your continued support of METAL CHURCH!

"Love & respect, Kurdt Vanderhoof".

On January 26, METAL CHURCH shared an audio snippet of some of the new music — complete with a singer who sounded uncannily like Lopes — the group had been working on in recent months, with plans to release its sometime this spring via Rat Pak Records.

Howe was found dead at his home in Eureka, California in July 2021. According to TMZ, Howe's official cause of death was determined to be asphyxia due to hanging. A spokesperson for the Humboldt County Sheriff's Dept. told the site authorities are calling it a suicide. He was only 55 years old.

Last September, Kurdt told Metal-Rules that he really hadn't processed Howe's death yet. "I can't," he said. "I can't imagine what it must feel like to feel that suicide is your only option. And because he was like my brother and to find out he was in such pain and it's too late to try and help is just something I cannot get my head around."

Kurdt went on to say that there will be a new METAL CHURCH album in 2023. "I had written a new record and Mike and I had just begun the process before he passed," he explained. "So I had a lot of material on hand. I also wanted to complete the album in honor of him. I have written a batch of additional material and it's going in a more aggressive direction."

At the time, Kurdt said that he and his METAL CHURCH bandmates were "keeping a lid" on the identity of their new singer. However, he revealed: "We didn't choose a Mike Howe clone or David Wayne clone. We decided to approach the future as a 'new' chapter in the band's career. I think the fans will really dig it."

When Mike's death was first announced, TMZ stated that cops in Eureka got a call just after 10 a.m. on July 26, 2021 reporting an unexpected death at a home. By the time deputies arrived, they found Howe dead at the scene.

According to police, drugs and alcohol are not believed to be factors in the death and no controlled substances or paraphernalia were located at the scene.

Four days after Howe's death, the surviving members of METAL CHURCH shared a statement on social media in which they blamed his suicide on the fact that he "was victimized by a failing health-care system and subsequently poisoned by the venom of Big Pharma," a term which refers collectively to the global pharmaceutical industry. "In short and in essence, he fell prey to the real 'Fake Healer'."

METAL CHURCH's statement was quickly met with criticism from some of the band's fans who felt that the long-running metal act was using Howe's death as a platform to assert its political views. As a result, METAL CHUCH pulled its original post from social media and replaced it with a revised version, in which the musicians said they were "in no way, shape or form referring to anything in relation to vaccinations, COVID or politics. We were saying our brother was hurting and while he was seeking medical care for it, the treatments he was utilizing did not protect him," they wrote. "Otherwise, he would still be with us today."

Howe, who fronted METAL CHURCH from 1988 until 1994, officially rejoined the band in April 2015.

Prior to joining METAL CHURCH more than three decades ago, Howe spent two years fronting California metal act HERETIC.

The reunion between Mike and METAL CHURCH was put in motion in July of 2014 when Mike started working with Vanderhoof on a side project Kurdt was forming with Nigel Glockler from SAXON. Through these initial conversations, Kurdt convinced Mike to ultimately return to METAL CHURCH. The idea was to see if they could recapture some of the magic from the three albums METAL CHURCH released in the late '80s: "The Human Factor", "Blessing In Disguise" and "Hanging In The Balance". Out of those sessions, 2016's "XI" was born and captured the sound that made the band fan favorites in the '80s and mixed it with a new, invigorated sound.

METAL CHURCH's latest release was "From The Vault", which arrived in April 2020 via Rat Pak Records. The effort was a special-edition compilation album that featured 14 previously unreleased songs from the Howe era, including four newly recorded studio tracks, among them a redux of the band's fan favorite classic "Conductor".

Howe is not the first singer of METAL CHURCH to die. David Wayne passed away in May 2005 from complications following a car crash. He was 47 years old.

Wayne sang on METAL CHURCH's first two classic offerings (1984's "Metal Church" and 1986's "The Dark") before leaving the group and being replaced by Howe.

Photo credit: Jeremy Belinfante / M-Theory Audio / Secret Service Publicity