METAL CHURCH's MARC LOPES Talks U.S. Politics: 'We're Entering Dictatorship And True Fascism And Socialism Territories'

In a new interview with Andrew McKaysmith of Australia's "Scars And Guitars" podcast, METAL CHURCH vocalist Marc Lopes discussed his political views, particularly as it relates to the two major political parties in the U.S. He said in part (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I meet a lot of people, and you can tell. You can go into a conversation or subject matter that might kind of be able to determine a different point you without getting into the nitty gritty. I don't think anybody… Why get into a waste of time, nitty gritty stuff? And in the Northeast, the funny part is that in the Northeast, especially Massachusetts, where I live, and mega Democrats and Kennedy era of things, but what you'll hear over there is that it's not the Democrat that I grew up with. And they're 100 percent right. Because those views that were the fundamental of that certain party, so to say, probably more aligned with a lot of people that they might call the right or conservative or whatever they wanna call the Republicans are on the side, they're probably more aligned with that now than they ever never could have imagined, because that party has gone so far to the other direction. It's crazy."

He continued: "I just think it's sad because both parties suck ass, and there's so much garbage on both sides. No one is better than the other as far as you wanna throw daggers at each other. But my firm belief is this: I would rather have the less of two evils [laughs], because at least if you have the less of two evils, you have something to at least work with.

"We're entering dictatorship and true fascism and socialism territories and some of the stuff that that's getting thrown around here. And it's, like, dude, you're an idiot if you don't see that, because it's there. It's right there in front of you, and if you give that up, it's over. Because if you give it up, the only other way back is you're gonna have to grab your guns, grab your knives, grab your fist, because that's the only way you're ever gonna get out of that stuff. But, unfortunately, people are blind, and everybody's comfortable and they don't wanna face it, because it's work [laughs] — or we're too busy doing work."

Lopes added: "That's just my perception of what I see. And I travel around the world. I've been to 47 countries. I've seen it all. And the common thing is everybody just wants to live and be happy. That's the common denominator, no matter where, whether I was in Turkey or Austria or New Zealand or whatever. It's everybody wants the same thing. I don't know what's so hard about that."

When McKaysmith brought up the topic of "conspiracy theorists" as it relates to the political situation around the world, Lopes said: "You know what? Here's the thing that's crazy. I used to think, 'Oh, well, that's so outlandish, that can't be.' But the crazy thing is many things that have been called conspiracy theories ended up coming true, and that's just kind of freaky in itself. And again, not all of 'em, 'cause some of them are way the fuck out there. But they call anybody that questions anything a conspiracy theorist. And that's where that line has just blurred. If I ask a question about anything that they don't agree with, you're automatically a conspiracy theorist. This conversation, 'You guys are conspiracy theorists. You guys are crazy. You don't know what you're talking about.' 'No. Okay, cool, man.'"

He added: "Now I'm looking at things, like, everything's 50-50 now, because you don't even know what's real or not — even visually. Effects are so crazy and deepfakes and AI voices. I mean, who the fuck knows when anything is real anymore? Hell, this conversation's not real. I don't know. [Laughs]"

Later in the conversation, McKaysmith claimed that the "principal sponsor of mainstream left-wing parties these days" is "socialism" and lamented the fact that we ended up there, "given we went through the terrible 20th century and the hundreds of millions that died under the oppression of socialism and communism". Lopes seemingly concurred, saying: "Well, that's the funny thing about it. It's like no socialist or communist society has ever thrived. None. Never. Never happens. It doesn't work. I mean, how many more times are you gonna make the same mistake? You know what I mean? I don't know. That's why when you get that crazy guy that just won in Argentina," referencing right-wing populist Javier Milei, who resoundingly won Argentina's presidency after trumpeting socially conservative culture war issues and explosive proposals to reshape Argentine society, "people are, like, 'Yeah, that guy's out of his mind.' I'm, like, but maybe that's the kind of thing you need in this crazy world, is somebody that's just out of his mind. [Laughs] Like what we deal with here — everybody thinks the T-man", apparently referring to former U.S. president Donald Trump, "is a fricking fascist Nazi or whatever. To me, he has to be ridiculous because of the ridiculous stuff that we're dealing with. Whether you see its point of view or not, it's definitely an interesting spin. And what do they say? In order to beat a monster, you have to be a monster yourself. You know what I mean? There's no other way around it."

Lopes added: "I'll take it from some of the training from fighting… Some of my fighting training has always been, you kind of train not to have a confrontation. But it's also the other side of it is that if you have an enemy that has no fear, and if you have an enemy that has no moral compass, no empathy, the only way you're ever gonna beat that enemy is to be that, if not worse, at the moment. And that is the truth, because that's the only way to beat that kind of enemy. And I use that as a symbolic way of looking at the things that we're dealing with. You've gotta be worse, to a degree, in that instant… If you've got a guy that's willing to blow himself up and he thinks a billion virgins are waiting for him, that's a tough enemy to beat. You've gotta be willing to fricking do 10 times worse in order to beat that enemy."

METAL CHURCH made its live debut with Lopes on June 3 at the Legions Of Metal festival at Reggies in Chicago, Illinois.

Lopes joined METAL CHURCH in the summer of 2022 as the replacement for Mike Howe, who tragically passed away in July of 2021. The band's current lineup is rounded out by founding guitarist Kurdt Vanderhoof, guitarist Rick Van Zandt, bassist Steve Unger and drummer Stet Howland.

Lopes's first studio album with METAL CHURCH, "Congregation Of Annihilation", came out on May 26 via Rat Pak Records (America) and Reaper Entertainment (Europe). The LP was produced by Vanderhoof.