The Dark

The Dark is the second album on which METAL CHURCH pushes heavy themes and taut tension to the front, built on thick riffs and a raw voice. David Wayne’s high, sharp vocals and the hard wall of sound raised by the two guitars drive the record forcefully throughout. It advances the fusion of power and thrash shown on the debut in a darker, denser direction. The dramatic sweep of “Watch the Children Pray” and the unease of the title track “The Dark” carry a weight and narrative that speed alone cannot measure. Songs such as “Ton of Bricks,” “Start the Fire” and “Psycho” keep their aggression while avoiding monotonous charging, gripping the listener with dynamics and shifts of pace. On “Method to Your Madness,” “Over My Dead Body,” “Burial at Sea” and “Western Alliance” too, urgency and weight are skillfully balanced, stringing a consistent thread of tension across the album. Keeping the debut’s momentum while gaining more considered construction and a thicker sonic image, and carving its own shadow on the border of US metal and thrash, it symbolizes the fullness of early METAL CHURCH.