METAL CHURCH To Begin Work On New Studio Album This Summer

METAL CHURCH will begin work on a new studio album this summer. The follow-up to 2018's "Damned If You Do" will likely arrive in 2021 via Rat Pak Records.

Asked in a new interview with Metal Wani if there are plans for METAL CHURCH to hold any online events in support of the recently released "From The Vault" collection, guitarist Kurdt Vanderhoof said (hear audio below): "Not really, no. I think we're just gonna kind of leave it at this for right now. When this all passes" — referring to the coronavirus crisis — "then, obviously, like everybody else, we'll get back to work and get back to normal living and doing our thing. But we're gonna wait regardless, 'cause we decided what we're gonna do is wait till after the new album anyway, so that was pre any kind of weird, nefarious viruses and that kind of stuff. So we're just gonna be working on a new album. We'll probably start writing that later in the summer… We're gonna sit and we're gonna wait till there's a new album, and then we'll go out and do the normal promoting it or backing it up by touring and playing shows. But we're gonna wait till there's a new record."

"From The Vault" arrived on April 10 via Rat Pak Records. This latest release is a special edition compilation album that features 14 previously unreleased songs from the Mike Howe era, including four newly recorded studio tracks including a redux of the band's fan favorite classic "Conductor", The remaining tracks are compiled from various recordings in the band's history and include five tracks from 2018's "Damned If You Do" recording sessions, three cover songs and two live tracks, "Agent Green" and "Anthem To The Estranged", which was recorded at the famous Club Citta, Kawasaki, Japan on the "Damned If You Do" world tour. Tracks 1 through 4 were mixed and mastered by Chris "The Wizard" Collier (KXM, WHITESNAKE, PRONG, KORN) and tracks 5 through 14 were mixed and mastered by Vanderhoof.

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

In the summer of 2014, METAL CHURCH suddenly found themselves in need of a new singer. As fate would have it, Vanderhoof was already in talks with Mike for another project that he was working on with SAXON drummer Nigel Glockler, so he decided to ask Mike to rejoin METAL CHURCH. Mike agreed, but true to form, didn't want to make it official until he knew for sure that the integrity of the new material was there.