Metal Church
'Dead to Rights'
Album Review
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Released April 10, 2026, DEAD TO RIGHTS, the 14th studio album in 40+ years from the mighty METAL CHURCH, features a new line up and a return to the power metal infused thrash style that made them a force to be reckoned with back in the 80’s, during the heyday of the (then relatively new) thrash scene.
Featuring David Ellefson (formerly of Megadeth) on bass, Ken Mary (currently of Flotsam and Jetsam) on drums, and brand-new vocalist Brian Allen, DEAD TO RIGHTS contains all of the best elements of “The Dark” and “Blessing In Disguise” with the added blessing of modern production quality. This album is chock full of great riffs and catchy hooks that maintains the classic “flavor of Metal Church” with some upgraded, present-day refinements.
1 Brainwash Game
2 F.A.F.O.
3 Dead to Rights
4 Deep Cover Shakedown
5 Feet to the Fire
6 The Show
7 Heaven Knows (Slip Away)
8 No Memory
9 Wasted Time
10 My Wrath
11 Blood and Water (bonus)
Released: April 10 2026
Label: Rat Pak
Producer: Kurdt Vanderhoof
Brian Allen – vocals
Kurdt Vanderhoof – guitar
Rick Van Zandt – guitar
David Ellefson – bass
Ken Mary – drums
Find out why “Splitting The G” is an essential St. Patrick’s Day event for every holiday, get yourself a tiny sample of the brand-new Venom album, “Into Oblivion” (featuring Cronos), and find out why “the Metallica of the WCW” likes to enjoy “the Evil Bean with the Mean Gene” when you JOIN US as we embrace the power and the fury of METAL CHURCH with their latest offering, DEAD TO RIGHTS.
Show Notes:
(00:01): “I’m not a beer chugger…there’s a thing called ‘splitting the G’…”/ #SplittingTheG /
“I guess they do it in Ireland or something, where #Guiness is big…”/ “I’m not usually a big beer chugger…”/ “We practiced ALL night…”/ “It took me like a hard 16 seconds to get it…but I got it down…I swallowed all of it…”/ “It was creamy and foamy…OMG it was too much…”/ “We got The Mean Bean…wait, wasn’t that the dude with The Hulkster? ‘The Evil Bean’…that’s Mean Gene!”/ “The Hulkster’s got a show on #Netflix…it’s a #documentary …”/ “He was like the #Metallica of the WCW I think…”/ “He was part of…WCW, WWF…was he in the whole N.W.O. thing? That was when he got The Black Beard, right?”/
“He was drinking the Evil Bean with The Mean Gene, brother…”
***WARNING: #listenerdiscretionisadvised ***
(03:26): “That’s where that comes from…”/ “Someday…a selfish part of me wants to see Bill like…FAT…and like us…or like me…”/ #TheAntiBill / “It’s not gonna happen…”/ #highschoolfashion / #baremidriff / ***WELCOME BACK TO THE METAL NERDERY PODCAST and THE BUNKERPOON CENTER FOR METAL EXCELLENCE!!!*** /
“That’s right…I like that…”/ ***PATREON US at patreon.com/metalnerderypodcast ***/
“Mine’ll be the smallest…”/ “I showed somebody The Twiddler files the other night…”/
“OMG, you didn’t see The Twiddler Files!? Duuude…”/
***SOCIAL MEDIA US at #metalnerderypodcast on #YouTube #Instagram #Facebook and #TikTok / #viralaf / ***EMAIL US at metalnerdery@gmail.com *** / #TripSix (Shoutout to Grandmaster Vag Destroyer!!!) / #TwoHotDogs / #blessyou / #Shart / ***VOICEMAIL US at 980-666-8182!!!***
(9:56): “A little #ActusReus ???”/ “He’s got really nice gear…”/ #ActusReus TENSION /
“It’s the cowboy hat that gives him the power, dude…”/ #markthetime / #thickness /
“Maybe a little bit of the new…Venom…the Godfathers of Black Metal…they’ve got a new album out…they’re like the Black Sabbath of Black metal…”/ #BlackSabbath #BlackMetal /
#IntoOblivion / “The titles look badass…”/ “It looks like the A.I. ‘Black Metal’ version… (re: the Into Oblivion album cover vs the Black Metal album cover)…”/ #Venom KICKED OUT OF HELL (Into Oblivion – 2026) / “This is also with #Cronos by the way…”/ “You wanna grab one more on that…?”/ #thebighitsingle / LAY DOWN YOUR SOUL / “That’s the line from ‘Witching Hour’…” (NOTE: That’s actually from Black Metal, NOT Witching Hour) / #RussellsCigarReflections / “He’s like the Ozzy of black metal…or Lemmy…”/ #powerburpASMR / “That’s why we’re here…to support the commitment for Metal Excellence…”/ #keepgoing / #Pentagram / “That’s what it’s all about…if you can do that…”/ “Whether you’re a painter or, y’know, a writer…a whittler…”/ “That’s NOT stopping…”/ “Real quick…can you pull up ‘Black Metal’ by Venom?”/ “It’s the AI face of that dude…” / “Jamie? Sorry, I know it’s a lot…sorry Jamie…”
(22:11): #TheDocket METAL NERDERY PODCAST PRESENTS: METAL CHURCH – DEAD TO RIGHTS – BRAND SPANK ALBUM DIVE!!! / “If you wanted a cool t-shirt…that’s it!”/
“What was #MetalChurch to you…when you were discovering…the thrash scene?”/
“Sorry, I cupped a little bit that time…I half cupped it…”/ #InsideTheMetal / “What was your first Metal Church experience?”/ “Was it the name or the artwork?” / “They’ve got power metal elements…” / “It was darker…heavier…faster…” / #allgoodthings / “I’ve still got a big boner for metal, dude…rock hard…like 11:00…”/ BRAINWASH GAME / Released April 10, 2026 / “It’s like a nice blend of David Wayne and Mike Howe…PLUS…”/ “It still sounds like old-school metal…elements of “bolth” power metal and thrash
(29:58): F.A.F.O / #FAFO / “I just think it’s rad that David Ellefson is now part of Metal Church…”/ “They’re trying to outdo each other…and we ALL win!”/ “I think there needs to be ‘Eric Cartman does The Smashing Pumpkins’…” / #Cartman #SouthParkASMR #BillyCorgan #SmashingPumpkins / #CaptainCritical / DEAD TO RIGHTS / #titletrack / “That guy’s gonna destroy the old stuff…perfectly.”
(38:24): DEEP COVER SHAKEDOWN / “It’s got grunt to it…”/ “That’s a hooky riff, dude…”/
“If you’ve got two guitar players, they need to be doing some different shit…don’t be doing the same thing…”/ “It forces you to listen…”/ FEET TO THE FIRE / “That’s a different mix…it’s softer, it’s not as grunty…70’s-ish…”/ “Ken Mary is the drummer…”/ “Like 70’s power metal…yeah I can see that…”/ “That’s cool…I like the textures…”/ “Oooh, I like that…I don’t know what’s going on there…”/ THE SHOW / “That’s a meat and potatoes tone right there…”/ #DaveMustaineASMR / “C’mon, let’s do some Winger…”/ “Oooh, yeah, dude! We should do some Slaughter…”/ #edibles
(48:40): HEAVEN KNOWS (SLIP AWAY) / “Are they touring yet?”/ “Nobody ever comes to Atlanta…you know why? Because we’re the rap capital of the world, dude…”/
#RapNerdery / “I can totally do that dude, it’s America…I think…”/ NO MEMORY /
“That’s probably the cleanest he’s sang so far…”/ “They got some hooks in there…hooks are good…”/ WASTED TIME / “That’s kinda got an 80’s feel to it…”/ “Here’s everything I love about this album so far…”/ “Articulate grunt crunch…”/ “Flotsam!?”/ #flotsamandjetsam /
“That’s the vocal equivalent of that dude…”
(58:28): MY WRATH / “Whoa!”/ “That was super nice…”/ “It’s still the flavor of Metal Church…”/ BONUS TRACK / BLOOD AND WATER / “I still wanna hear it…”/ “Wait a minute…is this a cover?”/ “That’s got Dio vibes to it…”/ “This is two things I love about this podcast and metal in general…”/ “This is REAL PEOPLE doing REAL SHIT with REAL INSTRUMENTS…”/ #HailToMetalChurch / “That dude’s a fuckin’ dude, man…”/
“That’s metal…”/ THANK YOU FOR JOINING US!!! / #untilthenext #outroreel
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