Formative years (1980–1984) Then-based in San Francisco, guitarist
Kurdt Vanderhoof formed Metal Church in 1980 with various musicians. This era included a brief audition period with future
Metallica drummer
Lars Ulrich. The three-song, instrumental
Red Skies demo, was released in 1981, and featured Vanderhoof, guitarist Rick Condrin, bassist Steve Hott, and drummer Aaron Zimpel. Vanderhoof relocated to his hometown of
Aberdeen in 1981 and began the new group Shrapnel with Craig Wells, Duke Erickson, drummer Tom Weber, and vocalist Mike Murphy. Murphy departed before their next demo, which was recorded without vocals, and Weber departed shortly thereafter. The enlistment of drummer Kirk Arrington and vocalist
David Wayne completed the group's classic lineup. They released the demo
Four Hymns and spent following years touring and accruing material, readopting the Metal Church moniker in 1983. The song "Death Wish" is featured on the compilation album
Northwest Metalfest.
First two albums and commercial success (1984–1988) In July 1984, Metal Church released its
self-titled debut album, which included three songs from the
Four Hymns demo and a cover version of
Deep Purple's "
Highway Star". They sold 70,000 copies of the album independently before signing to
Elektra. By the time Metal Church released its second studio album,
The Dark, in October 1986, they were touring with high-profile acts including Metallica.
The Dark was a commercial success, helped by the fact that the band's first music video, "Watch the Children Pray", received frequent airplay on
MTV. As a result, the album managed to enter the US
Billboard 200, Shortly after the album's release, however, they were plagued by lineup changes: Vanderhoof ceased performing live with the group in 1986, to be replaced briefly by Mark Baker and more permanently by former Metallica roadie
John Marshall. Vanderhoof nonetheless continued to work with the group in composing thereafter, co-writing much of their subsequent material. Wayne also departed shortly thereafter and was replaced by former
Heretic singer
Mike Howe. Wayne teamed up with the remaining members of Heretic to form
Reverend.
Further albums and first breakup (1989–1996) With Howe and Marshall, Metal Church released their third studio album,
Blessing in Disguise, in 1989. Critics responded favorably to the album, including some assertions that it was the band's strongest effort.
Blessing in Disguise was even more successful than its predecessors, peaking at number 75 on the
Billboard 200; this was Metal Church's highest chart position, until it was surpassed 27 years later by
XI. and its opening track "Fake Healer" receiving some attention from mainstream radio stations, most notably
KNAC and
Z Rock; unlike "Badlands", however, there was no music video for "Fake Healer". After spending most of 1989 and 1990 touring heavily behind
Blessing in Disguise (performing with numerous bands such as Metallica,
W.A.S.P.,
Accept,
Annihilator,
Saxon,
Meliah Rage,
Forced Entry and
D.B.C.), while also releasing a record with conceptual accessibility beyond the heavy metal genre. While
The Human Factor failed to chart on the
Billboard 200, it was supported by two successful North American tours, one of which saw Metal Church appear on the
Operation Rock & Roll tour (alongside
Judas Priest,
Alice Cooper,
Motörhead and
Dangerous Toys), and the band also supported Metallica on select dates of their
Wherever We May Roam Tour.
Reunion of classic lineup and Masterpeace (1998–2001) began performing with the group for the first time in 12 years for their 1998 reformation. The members of Metal Church began compiling their first live album in 1998,
Live, which featured songs from their first two records performed by their classic lineup. During the production of
Live, Wayne, Vanderhoof, Wells, Arrington, and Erickson decided to reform the band and began work on a new studio album. Wells was forced to depart the band due to familial obligations, only in Japan. The resulting album,
Masterpeace, was released in 1999 on
Nuclear Blast Records. Critics responded positively, hailing it as a focused product that increased the energy over previous releases, despite it ultimately failing to break new ground. Arrington and Erickson were unable to tour behind the album, so the band enlisted members of Vanderhoof's side projects, bassist Brian Lake and drummer Jeff Wade, for live performances later that year. Wayne expressed regret regarding
Masterpeace, which influenced his musical output that followed. Vanderhoof objected to the album's name and cover art; according to Wayne, the purpose of the album's name was to alert the audience of his involvement. On May 10, 2005, former Metal Church singer David Wayne died of complications from injuries sustained in a car accident that occurred months before. He was 47 years old. In 2006, Arrington left the band due to health complications with diabetes. His replacement was
Jeff Plate from
Savatage,
Chris Caffery and the
Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Later that year, the band released their eighth studio album,
A Light in the Dark, which featured a re-recording of "Watch the Children Pray" as a tribute to Wayne. 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 his death. Reynolds left the group in 2008 and was replaced by Rick Van Zandt. The band's ninth studio album,
This Present Wasteland, released that September, which was hailed generally as an effective release consistent with their previous material. After Vanderhoof's health improved, they returned to performing and composing new material. On July 7, 2009, however, the band announced unexpectedly that they were disbanding following a final performance at
Rocklahoma two days later, cancelling numerous further live dates. They cited industry frustrations as a major factor influencing the decision. Several former members remained musically active, including Munroe and Vanderhoof in
Presto Ballet and Plate in
Machines of Grace.
Second reformation, Generation Nothing and rotating singers (2012–2015) , singer for Metal Church from 1988 to 1996, rejoined the group in 2015 and stayed until his death in 2021. His return contributed to Metal Church's resurgence in popularity. In October 2012, the band announced resumption of activity around a lineup featuring Vanderhoof, Munroe, Unger, Reynolds (soon replaced by Van Zandt), and Plate. Their first performances came the following January during the
70000 Tons of Metal event, a heavy metal cruise. During one of these two shows, the band performed their debut album,
Metal Church, in its entirety. Shortly thereafter, Vanderhoof told Music Life Radio that Metal Church had been working on a new album. In order to promote their tenth studio album, the band played festivals in the summer of 2013. The album,
Generation Nothing, was released in October. Munroe left Metal Church in September 2014 to "pursue other interests". The band announced its plans to continue nonetheless. On April 30, 2015, Metal Church announced on their Facebook page that singer
Mike Howe had rejoined the band, nearly two decades after his first departure. Hailed by some critics as a comeback album,
XI received positive reviews from critics, and was Metal Church's first album in 27 years (since
Blessing in Disguise) to enter the
Billboard 200; the album peaked at number 57, making it the band's highest chart position in their career. On the album's supporting tour, guitarist Rick Van Zandt had to go in for emergency eye surgery to repair a detached retina, and was temporarily replaced by former Firewolfe guitarist Paul Kleff, and
Savatage guitarist
Chris Caffery. The band co-headlined a West Coast North American tour with
Armored Saint in June 2016, and along with
Amon Amarth,
Suicidal Tendencies and
Butcher Babies, they supported
Megadeth on the latter's U.S.
Dystopia tour in September–October 2016. When asked in October 2016 if he had intended to write another album with Metal Church, Howe stated, "We have every intention of doing that and that's what it's all about. If you're not putting on new music, then it's time to go away for me. In Metal Church... it's always been like a two-year cycle band, but we put our album out this year in March. So our album is actually only being out for six months. But we have plans on this fall getting back to writing and try to put something out next year. We're also looking at some dates for the spring possibly back in the States and maybe back over here. But our drummer Jeff, he's also on the
TSO. He leaves from the end of October through December. So we might take that time to start writing new record." Metal Church released a live album on April 28, 2017, titled
Classic Live, which was recorded on the 2016
XI tour. This is the band's first live album since 1998's
Live in Japan, and their first live album with Howe on vocals. On March 21, 2017, drummer
Jeff Plate announced his departure from Metal Church. As the result of his departure, the band withdrew from a North American tour with
Alter Bridge and
In Flames that was scheduled to take place in May 2017. Plate was replaced by former
W.A.S.P. drummer
Stet Howland. In a May 2017 interview, Vanderhoof stated that Metal Church had begun writing and demoing their twelfth studio album, which was tentatively due for release in early 2018. On October 1, 2018, Metal Church teased an audio sample of a song from their twelfth studio album. The album,
Damned If You Do, was announced shortly after and it was released on December 7, 2018. In support of
Damned If You Do, Metal Church co-headlined a North American tour with
Doro in April–May 2019, and performed at
Megadeth's first-ever Megacruise that October. In a July 2019 interview with Italy's Metalforce, Howe said that Metal Church would likely begin writing new material in 2020. Vanderhoof stated in an interview with Metal Wani in April 2020 that Metal Church would "probably start writing that later in the summer." He concluded, "We're gonna sit and we're gonna wait till there's a new album, and then we'll go out and do the normal promoting it or backing it up by touring and playing shows. But we're gonna wait till there's a new record." Metal Church released their first compilation album
From the Vault on April 10, 2020. It contains four new studio tracks, five B-side tracks from the
Damned If You Do sessions, three song covers and two tracks culled from their performance at
Club Citta in
Kawasaki, Japan. The band stated on their Facebook page in July 2021 that their thirteenth studio album would be released in 2022.
Howe's death, arrival of Marc Lopes and Congregation of Annihilation (2021–2024) On July 26, 2021, Metal Church announced Howe had died that morning at his home in
Eureka, California, at the age of 55. In October 2021, after announcing the return of his short-lived early 1990s band Hall Aflame, Vanderhoof hinted on his Facebook page that Metal Church would continue on with a yet-to-be-revealed replacement for Howe. A month later, drummer
Stet Howland revealed that he and the remaining members of the band had started to "communicate again" following Howe's death. Although he did not specify the current state of Metal Church, Howland declared, "We're all slowly digesting. We just started talking again a few weeks ago, and we're barely talking about anything except making jokes, and we have our banter, we're starting to joke and communicated again together. Building on the future will come, but right now... we're just like hugging right now, we're all like 'I love you, man'. That's kind of where we're at. I know everybody wants to know more, when there's more you'll hear about it." By mid-2022, rumors had circulated that
Ronny Munroe would rejoin the band, but resulted in him joining
Vicious Rumors. In a September 2022 interview with
Metal Rules, Vanderhoof revealed that the band had found a replacement in Howe, but added that they were "keeping a lid" on the identity of their new singer "for the time being." He also revealed that a new Metal Church album, which they had begun writing just before Howe's death, would be released in 2023. The band played one of their first shows in four years at Belgium's Alcatraz Open Air in August 2023. On February 2, 2023, Metal Church announced Marc Lopes as their new lead vocalist. A month later, the band announced that their thirteenth album,
Congregation of Annihilation, would be released on May 26. The band supported
Congregation of Annihilation with a world tour, including a series of headlining tours in North America and Australia; Metal Church was scheduled to North America again in the spring of 2024, but it was cancelled due to Vanderhoof's "ongoing back issue." A live album featuring Howe's final live performances,
The Final Sermon (Live in Japan 2019), was released on July 26, 2024 to coincide with the third anniversary of his death. An authorized book by author James R. Beach and co-author and archivist Brian L. Naron,
Beyond the Black: The Story of Metal Church, was released in November 2023. In addition to past and present members of Metal Church, the book includes interviews with the band's road crew members, record producers and contemporaries, and a foreword by former
Grim Reaper guitarist Nick Bowcott. In a December 2023 interview with Metal Wani, Lopes stated that Metal Church would begin working on new material for their fourteenth studio album in late 2024.
New lineup and Dead to Rights (2025–present) When asked in January 2025 about the status of Metal Church, Lopes said, "I don't know anything about nothing. It was doing amazing, everything was going really good, and then stuff happens. [Laughs] I haven't heard from anybody in a long time. That happens. People sometimes, they've gotta go do their thing. So I don't know. I don't know. I have no idea… There's nothing to hide. I don't know anything. You know what I mean?" On November 21, 2025, Metal Church announced that they had parted ways with Lopes, bassist Steve Unger and drummer Stet Howland, who were replaced by former
Vicious Rumors frontman Brian Allen, original
Megadeth bassist
David Ellefson, and drummer
Ken Mary of
Fifth Angel and
Flotsam and Jetsam, respectively. This new lineup recorded the band's upcoming fourteenth studio album, which was set for release in 2026. The album's first single "F.A.F.O." was released the same day as the announcement. Metal Church will support the album with a tour, including opening for
Testament in Europe. ==Musical style==