This Present Wasteland
This Present Wasteland is the ninth studio album by American heavy metal band Metal Church, released on 23 September 2008 through Steamhammer. European listeners had to wait a few days longer, as it arrived there on 26 September. It is a thrash metal record, and it follows A Light in the Dark from 2006.
The album brings guitarist Rick Van Zandt into the line-up for the first time. It also marks the end of a chapter, as it was the last record before the band split for the second time, a break that ran from July 2009 until October 2012. The cover art came from a contest on Myspace, with fans submitting the entries. For anyone following Metal Church's long run, it is a useful look at the band just before that hiatus.
This Present Wasteland: tracklist and credits
10 tracks · 57:21Tracklist
- 1The Company of SorrowKurdt Vanderhoof and Ronny Munroe6:37
- 2The Perfect CrimeKurdt Vanderhoof and Ronny Munroe4:37
- 3Deeds of a Dead SoulKurdt Vanderhoof and Ronny Munroe8:27
- 4Meet Your MakerKurdt Vanderhoof and Ronny Munroe5:35
- 5MonsterKurdt Vanderhoof and Ronny Munroe6:25
- 6Crawling to ExtinctionKurdt Vanderhoof and Ronny Munroe4:11
- 7A War Never WonKurdt Vanderhoof and Ronny Munroe5:33
- 8Mass HysteriaKurdt Vanderhoof and Ronny Munroe4:41
- 9Breathe AgainKurdt Vanderhoof and Ronny Munroe5:23
- 10CongregationKurdt Vanderhoof and Ronny Munroe5:52
- Produced by
- Kurdt Vanderhoof
- Recorded at
- The English Channel, The English Channel Studio (Olympia, Washington)
- Labels
- Steamhammer, SPV/Steamhammer
- Length
- 57:21
Line-up
- Angus Clark · guitar · guest
- Jeff Plate · membranophone
- Steve Unger · bass guitar
- Kurdt Vanderhoof · guitar
- Rick Van Zandt · guitar
- Ronny Munroe · lead vocals
- Chris Caffery · guitar · guest
- Matt Leff · guitar · guest
From MusicBrainz and Wikipedia. Only what the sources record is shown.
Released the same week
Also released on 23 September
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Releases and pressings
How we know the release date wikipedia + wikidata; also seen: 2008-10-22 (musicbrainz)
| Source | Date | Note |
|---|---|---|
| MusicBrainz | 22 October 2008 | ignored lone early release dated 2008-09-23 |
| Wikipedia infobox | 23 September 2008 | |
| Wikidata | 23 September 2008 | |
| US release | 23 September 2008 | earliest US date |
4 editions
| Date | Country | Label | Barcode | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | DE | Steamhammer | 693723981420 | other |
| 23 September 2008 | US | Steamhammer | 0693723981420 | original |
| 22 October 2008 | JP | AVALON | 4527516008437 | other |
| 10 October 2025 | XW | Reaper Entertainment | 5021732376268 | remaster |
Cover art sources
deezer · native: native 1800x1800
| Source | Size | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| deezer ✓ | 1800×1800 | native: native 1800x1800 |
| fanarttv | 1000×1000 | upscaled |
| coverartarchive | 300×300 | upscaled |