Which Metal Church Track Blessed You Most on Blessing In Disguise?

On February 7, 1989, Blessing In Disguise was released. It was the third Metal Church album and first to feature Mike Howe on vocals. Lyrically, it covered really interesting topics like the Titanic, crooked doctors, crooked politicians, etc., but not as "preachy" as their next album tended to be. I like the title because it encompasses a lot of what the songs are about. The Titanic, especially, was a "blessing in disguise." It is my favorite Metal Church album and one of my favorite albums in general.

Every song is solid, even the instrumental "It's A Secret." "Anthem To The Estranged" is an excellent example of how beautiful metal can be. I have to go with "Badlands" as my favorite. It's just a perfect metal song. Beautiful in parts, rocks in others, is powerful, and is catchy as hell. The little guitar riff at the end just wraps it up so nicely. Everything about that song is awesome, just like the album it's on.

Excellent album. Went for fake healer.

The Spell Can't Be Broken

My favorite MC album.

The Powers That Be is probably my favorite MC song overall, so I went with that just ahead of The Spell Can't Be Broken.

Of Unsound Mind

Love this album! Went with Badlands.

Badlands

"Badlands" is unbelievable, which would be followed by a distant second in that of "Fake Healer". It's just that great of a tune!

This another fantastic album from start to finish, without a weak tune on it. It's a toss up between Badlands and Rest In Pieces. I decided to go with Badlands.

"Fake Healer"

A toss up between "Fake Healer" & "Badlands"....guess I'll go with "Fake Healer"

I've always had an affinity for 'Badlands'.

Anthem

Fake Healer

I wanted to go with "Badlands" but in 1989, the intro and chorus to "Anthem to the Estranged" forever embedded itself into my brain meat. "All alone again!!!"

To be honest, I have a couple Metal Church albums, and this is the only one I feel fully comfortable voting on (as I've given it the most time out of the ones I have).

Fake Healer is a crushing track. It's about as heavy as traditional metal can get before being something else entirely, imo.

I like the whole album but my favorite track is Rest In Pieces (April 15, 1912)...Interestingly enough this band was always an "Underground" band for me ..they didn't ever get any airplay where I grew up and they never played the area and I had to special order the cassette. A friend of mine from California turned me onto them way back in the 80s..

I bought the cassette through Columbia House. I remember getting the booklet for that month and Metal Church was on the cover and Blessing In Disguised was the featured album. I had never heard the band but the song descriptions sounded so interesting (I was a Titanic history buff) that I ordered it (or didn't send the card in so it was sent automatically). This was back in day when you took a chance on an album without hearing a single note. Don't have to do that anymore.

Listening to badlands. Mike howe is really an awesome vocalist. And he still sounds as good today.

Gilbert wrote:

Listening to badlands. Mike howe is really an awesome vocalist. And he still sounds as good today.

Yes, he puts a lot of personality into his vocals, like an actor.

Anthem To The Estranged

BearOnUnicycle wrote:

Anthem

Yes!

Gotta go with badlands. Gets stuck in my head all the time!

Powers that Be. Almost went with Fake Healer but that the former is such a crushing closer with a great melodic chorus and some rad dynamics that make me anticipate it with each full-album-listen.

TBH as much as I love this album it is a tad bit uneven. Most of this is in the production--each song seems to have a slightly different mix and ambiance. I find this a result of the many producers and engineers on board. Too many cooks etc. Bit of a hollow mix too, lacking the power it needed. But still a frequent listen around these parts with some damn dynamic and layered songwriting.

"Badlands." That was easy.

No, wait... Maybe "Fake Healer!"

Orrrr.... "Anthem to the Estranged?" Dammit this is gonna be harder than I thought.

This album was the topic of one of my "Forgotten Hard Rock Albums" blogs a while ago:

http://hubpages.com/entertainment/Forgotten-Hard-Rock-Albums-Metal-Church-BLESSING-IN-DISGUISE-1989