By
Larry Petro,
News Monkey
Thursday, February 18, 2016 @ 7:20 PM
New Album XI Out March 25th
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Hard rock titans METAL CHURCH are hitting the road in the United States and Europe in support of their latest Rat Pak Records release XI. The band will be playing two warm-up shows in the state of Washington before heading out on the Monsters Of Rock cruise this month. The first leg of the United States tour kicks off on March 24th in Portland, ME and runs through April 9th wrapping up in Rochester, NY at the Montage Music Hall. The record release party for XI will be the show on March 25th in Manchester, NH at the Jewel Nightclub. Admission to that show is free and is on a first come first served basis. METAL CHURCH will be heading over to Europe in May and then return back to Europe for more dates in July and August. More tour dates to be announced in the near future. For more information on all upcoming tour dates, go to http://metalchurchofficial.com.
XI, the band’s 11th studio album available worldwide on March 25th, marks the return of legendary vocalist and front man Mike Howe.
METAL CHURCH just released a new video trailer for XI that features a sample of the album opener “Reset”. The trailer can be seen below. The new album is available for pre-order in various exclusive bundles via http://www.ratpakrecordsamerica.com/metal-church. A limited number of the Deluxe International Version are available on the website and features a bonus disc of 8 extra songs. Other bundles include guitar picks, stickers, a special edition behind the scenes photo book, t-shirts and even a limited number of personal phone calls from Mike Howe himself. The album is also available for pre-order on Amazon, Google Play and via iTunes at http://smarturl.it/MCXIiTunes and fans that order the digital version will receive an instant download of “Killing Your Time” from the new album. XI was produced by Kurdt Vanderhoof and co-produced by Chris “The Wizard” Collier.
From the first guitar riff of album opener “Reset” through the driving outro of album closer “Suffer Fools”, it is clear METAL CHURCH is back and better than ever. “Needle And Suture” and “Soul Eating Machine” showcase the songwriting that made the early Mike Howe albums The Human Factor, Blessing In Disguise and Hanging In The Balance such fan favorites. Musical opuses “Signal Path” and “Sky Falls In” clock in at over 7-minutes each and put the musicianship that METAL CHURCH was known for on full display in 2016.