๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ - ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐จ๐ย ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ & ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐โฆ
17 years ago this week, through โA Light in the Darkโ โWe Watch(ed) the Children Prayโ!
On June 16, 2006, Metal Church released their eighth full-length studio album โA Light in the Darkโ in Germany via SPV/Steamhammer (June 19 in the rest of Europe, and June 27 in the US).
This was the third Metal Church album to feature the cruciform Gibson Explorer on a cover...
...as well as the last to feature Jay Reynolds on guitar.
(Jay Reynolds live with Metal Church in 2006)
It was also the first to feature Jeff Plate on drums.
(Jeff Plate)
Background:
In 2006, Kirk Arrington left the band due to health complications with diabetes. His replacement was Jeff Plate, who previously worked with Savatage, Chris Caffery and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.
Later that year, the band released โA Light in the Darkโ, the bands second studio album to feature lead vocalist Ronny Munroe. The album featured a re-recording of "Watch the Children Pray" (from their 1986 album โThe Darkโ) as a tribute to original vocalist David Wayne, who had died on May 10th of the previous year due to complications from injuries sustained in a car accident that had occurred months prior to his death. He was 47 years old.
(David Wayne)
Kurdt Vanderhoof said that the tribute was a way of showing fans that he harbored no ill will towards Wayne despite the contentious situation that existed between them before Wayne's death.
(Ronny Munroe)
The band released a music video for the song โMirror of Liesโ which featured clips of live performances.
(Ronny Munroe)
Critical Reception:
โA Light in the Darkโ received positive reviews upon its release and in retrospect. AllMusicโs Greg Prato reviewed the album positively and commented that it is "unmistakably" Metal Church, in spite of the fact that only Kurdt Vanderhoof is the only remaining founding member of the band who performs on the record. Prato stated that โA Light in the Darkโ "could easily be mistaken for a Thrash Metal release of the '80s" because of songs like "A Light in the Dark" and "Beyond All Reason".
Keith Bergman of Blabbermouth.net had the same feeling, as the production "seems designed to recall past glories", but praised โA Light in the Darkโ for being "more cohesive, more like a band effort, and not coincidentally, the most consistent album since the band's heyday with late frontman David Wayne."
Rock Hard reviewer called it a "good, in the most positive sense, old-fashioned metal album with a balanced mix of proven power riffs, beautiful melodies and some sing-along choruses", though it did not approach qualitatively the band's early classics.โ
Greg Pratt of Exclaim! wrote that "Metal Church are proving themselves to be a dependable metal institution", but criticized the album for being too long, for having "too many mid-tempo blah rockers" and for the "sense of melodrama that dogs down" many songs.โ
Links to Artists, Albums, and Music Videos:
Click this link to listen to โA Light in the Darkโ via Spotify: A Light In The Dark https://open.spotify.com/album/00yaH2JUcPK7mgnqS02C5X
Click this link to watch the official music video for โMirror of Liesโ: https://youtu.be/_P8THwK4UOI
Click this link to follow Metal Church on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OfficialMetalChurch/
Click this link to follow Ronny Munroe on Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/ronnymunroefb/
Click this link to follow Jeff Plate on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jeffplatemusic
Click this link to follow Kurdt Vanderhoof on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kurdt.vanderhoof
Note: The reviews shared here are for historical reference. The views and opinions expressed within are not always supported (in full or in part) by Into the Wells. โ E.N. Wells
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