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Dokken - Back for the Attack, February 1988

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I’m Back for the Attack!

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Metal Church: Metal Church (1984)

One of America’s underrated, oft-forgotten heavy metal bricklayers, Metal Church and this influential debut undoubtedly contributed to the music’s conquering march across the land, at a time when its crossover into the mainstream was anything but certain.

But the hopelessly unphotogenic Seattle quintet soon found itself on the wrong side of MTV’s audio-to-video revolution and on the losing end of Elektra Records’ metal-packed roster, which boasted much prettier (and, thus, more marketable) label mates like Mötley Crüe, Dokken and Metallica (still scruffy but nothing a bath couldn’t fix).

All this, along with David Wayne’s tuneful but hardly radio-friendly screech (reminiscent of Accept’s Udo Dirkschneider) limited Metal Church’s appeal to the heavy metal faithful – but, boy, did we embrace monster head-bangers like the intricately assembled “Beyond the Black,” fretboard-peeling “Metal Church,” and amusingly named “(My Favorite) Nightmare.”

Moreover, both the instrumental “Merciless Onslaught” and frantic “Hitman” proved that guitarist/goblin Kurdt Vanderhoof’s merry gaggle of ugly ducklings could thrash with the best of them, while, conversely, they could tug at the young girls’ heartstrings with the first half of “Gods of Wrath” (which later unleashed more power chord Armageddon).

Finally, there was a rip-roaring cover of Deep Purple’s “Highway Star” (another veritable guitar clinic) that, while proof of Metal Church’s proud debt to their ‘70s godfathers, does nothing to undermine this self-titled debut’s standing as a classic slab of American-bred ‘80s metal.