Prepare To Be Baptised With MARC LOPES From METAL CHURCH

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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