Metal Church Announce 2023 Australian Tour

May 16, 2023

Aberdeen heavyweights Metal Church have announced an Australian tour for December this year. The band will kick it off in Melbourne on Thursday, 14th December, before playing Brisbane, Sydney, and then finishing in Adelaide on Sunday, 17th December (sorry Perth).

The band are currently gearing up to release their 13th studio album, titled Congregation of Annihilation, which will hit shelves in just a couple of weeks’ time on Friday, 26th May. A couple of tracks from the album have already been released, including ‘Making Monsters’ and ‘Pick A God And Prey’.

Metal Church: ‘Pick A God And Prey’

Congregation of Annihilation will mark the band’s first album without their longtime frontman Mike Howe, who passed away in 2021 at the age of 55. Vocalist Marc Lopes, who’s most known for Let Us Prey and Ross The Boss, was announced as the new lead singer in early 2023.

“This new album is starting a new chapter in the Metal Church legacy,” guitarist Kurdt Vanderhoof said in a statement. “I really love this album. It’s a fresh approach for us in one way, but also a return to the very beginnings of Metal Church as part of the New American Thrash Metal movement. This record contains some of the most aggressive songs we have recorded.”

Speaking on joining the band, Lopes said he was “honoured to be part of carrying on this legacy into a new era”.

“Working with Kurdt and a band that was a huge influence of mine growing up was a surreal experience to say the least,” Lopes said. “For me there was no point in trying to imitate what was already done to perfection. So, with respect to the past, we moved forward to a new chapter and here we are!”