Reunited METAL CHURCH Begins Work On New Album

The reunited METAL CHURCH — Ronny Munroe on vocals, Kurdt Vanderhoof and Rick Van Zandt on guitars, Steve Unger on bass, and Jeff Plate on drums — has entered Vanderhoof's English Channel studio in Washingtion to begin work on its comeback album for a late summer/early fall 2013 release via Kurdt's label Body Of Work Recordings.

METAL CHURCH celebrated its official reunion in late January on board 70000 Tons Of Metal, the world's biggest heavy metal cruise.

For one of their two shows on board, they played their debut album, "Metal Church", in its entirety. The other show was a "greatest-hits" set.

Fan-filmed video footage of their performance can be seen below.

Speaking to Metal As Fuck, Munroe stated about the possibility of a new studio album from METAL CHURCH: "We've got plans. We're going to start working on a new record and maybe do some festivals this summer. We'll keep everyone posted as soon as we make up our minds on that. We wanted to see how this went, and it went very very well. Kurdt has sent me a couple of things here and there, but it's nothing really that has stuck yet. We pretty much stopped doing that to focus on [70000 Tons Of Metal]. So when he gets back, he's got a few things to do, and then he's going to bury his head in writing some new stuff. It'll be phenomenal. He's a great writer. I'm really looking forward to it."

Asked if this is a permanent reunion, Munroe said: "Well, time will tell. We'll do a record, and we're just not going to do things the way that we did before. We're not 25 anymore. [I'm] not saying that we're old, but we need to do things the right way."

Added Plate: "Everybody understands that this is a complicated business. A lot of things had to fall into place. We gotta get a good record put together and done first; to be honest, that's the first thing. There's a distance between some of the bandmembers, but that's really not so much of an issue. It’s really getting the music to the ears of the fans, in their hands and then getting with someone who can put us in the right environment, at the right show, working with the right band."

METAL CHURCH called it quits after performing at the Rocklahoma festival in July 2009 in Pryor, Oklahoma.

"This Present Wasteland", the latest album from METAL CHURCH, sold 920 copies in the United States in its first week of release, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The CD artwork was submitted by a fan via a MySpace contest.

METAL CHURCH's previous album, "A Light in the Dark", came out in June 2006 via SPV. The LP included a new version of the classic "Watch The Children Pray" as a tribute to vocalist David Wayne, who passed away in May 2005.

Pictured below: METAL CHURCH