Metal Church - Hanging In The Balance (Limited Edition) (1993) CD-Rip

This is the album that so many bands are trying to sound like, whether they know it or not. They try to be "atmospheric" and "emotional" and for the most part, end up sucking greatly, because they don't know shit about songwriting (see: Dream Theater, Savatage when they try too hard, Blopeth, even later-era Metallica, etc etc ...)

If someone is looking for a very well-done atmospheric power-metal album, this is the one to find. No, this doesn't have 47 riffs in 35 seconds, and is not quite the followup everyone expected to "The Human Factor" (though if you heard "In Harms Way" enough, you'd understand), and also the cover art blows serious donkeys, but the songwriting on this album is absolutely impeccable.

There are no bad songs here. Quite possibly the best ballad ever recorded, "Waiting for a Savior", is on here. Other classics include "Hypnotized", the epic "Little Boy" (it's about Hiroshima and Nagasaki, not Michael Jackson!), and the wonderful folkish acoustic-guitar-driven "End of the Age" (did I mention there is an entire genre of metal trying to join folk influence with metal, and none of the comes close to that one song?), and "Losers in the Game" with that awesome chorus.

Although it doesn't immediately sound very much like other Metal Church albums (especially the first two), one can definitely hear Kurdt Vanderhoof's influence here - especially if one has listened to Blessing in Disguise. Songs like "Gods of Second Chance", "Hypnotised", and "Conductor" are pretty much classic Metal Church, and the rest are really not all that far off. This is one of the very few albums that remains consistently interesting, even over 68 minutes, without bludgeoning one to death with thrash riffs. Truly an amazing accomplishment.