Interview by Kris Peters
Much has changed with Metal Church since their last visit to Australian shores. The most notable, and tragic of which being the loss of legendary frontman Mike Howe in 2021.
Having pressed on to honour the memory of their former bandmate, Metal Church earlier this year released their first album with new vocalist Marc Lopes titled Congregation of Annihilation, in the process ushering in a new era and paying the ultimate respect to their future by harking back to the music that first saw Metal Church rise to prominence.
With the band kicking off their Australian tour in Melbourne on December 14, HEAVY sat down with Lopes to run through the album and his debut recording with Metal Church.
"I'm ready," he smiled. "Ready to go. We just came off the road from doing a bunch of dates here in the States, so we're all ready to go again. We're doing - I call it a warm-up show - but we're doing a show a couple of days before we go to Australia here in California to get the pumps rolling again."
It will be the first visit to these shores since 2019 so we question Lopes on what - aside from his position in the band - has changed with Metal Church since that tour.
"The set list is tremendously different," he offered. "It's pretty heavy on the first few albums and our new album. We're having a really good time and there's a lot of energy. Anybody that's seen me play live with Ross The Boss or anything knows that I am pretty much a hypermaniac (laughs). That hasn't changed."
In the full interview, Marc talks more about what to expect from the run of shows, the reception to the new album, how it returns to the band's roots, if that was a conscious direction, how it ushers in the new era of Metal Church, his transition into the band, any difficulties he faced making the album, what lessons he will carry into the next one and more.
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