Metal Church - The Final Sermon (Live in Japan 2019) [2LP]

Metal Church's The Final Sermon (Live in Japan 2019) is a double LP document of a band at full power, and a heartfelt farewell to one of heavy metal's great voices.

The 2019 Japanese show captured here features Mike Howe, who had rejoined the band in 2015 after a long absence and brought a renewed bite to their records and their stage show. He died in 2021, which gives this release, issued in 2024, an added weight. Alongside founding guitarist Kurdt Vanderhoof, Howe leads the band through a set that spans the whole catalogue, from their mid-1980s beginnings to the comeback era.

It is a crushing, crowd-pleasing run. Watch the Children Pray still lands as a slow-building epic, Howe's soaring delivery taking it somewhere new, while Start the Fire is all galloping riffs and raised fists. Badlands and Fake Healer show why his first stint in the band produced some of their sharpest songs, and Needle and Suture proves the later material could stand shoulder to shoulder with the classics. The playing is tight, the guitars are thick, and the audience is audibly on side throughout.

For long-time fans this is a fitting tribute and an essential live record. For newcomers, it is a fierce introduction to American power metal done right.