The first part of an Electronic Press Kit (EPK) for the forthcoming METAL CHURCH album featuring the band's returning vocalist Mike Howe is available below. Howe, who fronted METAL CHURCH from 1988 until 1994, officially rejoined the band in April. In the summer of 2014, METAL CHURCH suddenly found themselves in need of a new singer. As fate would have it, guitarist Kurdt 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. Said Mike: "Kurdt Vanderhoof got ahold of me in August of 2014, and he proposed [me] coming back to the band. He said Ronny [Munroe] left the band and he didn't really wanna carry on with METAL CHURCH unless maybe I would consider coming back. So I said, 'Well, I don't know. I'm open to it. But let's see what kind of music we can come up with.' So Kurdt went back to the studio and started writing songs in the vein of 'Hanging In The Balance', where we left off twenty years ago, and he sent them to me over the Internet. And I was, like, 'Damn! The guy still has it and he's doing great work.' So he sent me another batch, and that batch was just as good [as], if not better than, the other. So, from there, I said, Well, I cant say no to this. And let's just see how it goes.' And we started writing lyrics and getting together, and it's now morphed into this, being back in Aberdeen in the studio making the new METAL CHURCH record." Drummer Jeff Plate comments: "Mike Howe is the ONLY singer for METAL CHURCH. He has a reputation of complete honor and respect. We can now take METAL CHURCH to the next level!" Howe originally joined METAL CHURCH in the late '80s and released three albums with the band: "Blessing In Disguise" (1989), "The Human Factor" (1991) and "Hanging In The Balance" (1994). Mike was also the face of popular music videos "Date With Poverty" and "Badlands" that aired during MTV's heyday. Audio snippets of two new METAL CHURCH demo tracks, "Find Your Way" and "Killing Your Time", are available in the YouTube clip below. Both songs will be included on METAL CHURCH's forthcoming album, to be released in early 2016 via Rat Pak Records. The tracks feature the lineup of Mike Howe (vocals), Kurdt Vanderhoof (guitar), Jeff Plate (drums), Steve Unger (bass) and Rick Van Zandt (lead guitar). METAL CHURCH 2015 is: Mike Howe (vocals) Kurdt Vanderhoof (guitar) Jeff Plate (drums) Steve Unger (bass) Rick VanZandt (guitar)
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