Which Track Do You Hang With On Metal Church's Hanging In The Balance?

Hanging in the Balance was released on October 7, 1993. It had....curious cover art. It would be six years until Metal Church released another studio album. Fed up with the business side of the profession, Mike Howe would leave the music industry and not return for over 20 years. Kind of a bittersweet album when put in that perspective.

Still, it is quite solid. I didn't buy it when it came out. I hadn't even heard of it until not long ago when looking up Metal Church's discography. I was into alternative/shoe gaze music in 1993. Two tracks really stand out: "Gods of Second Chance" and "Waiting for a Savior." That latter song is one of my all-time MC favorites and gets my vote.

A decent album that's unfortunately hampered by its half-ass production, and of course that godawful album cover (shudder)...

My pick is "Waiting For a Savior," tho honestly I would have to give this a spin to refresh my memory of the rest, cuz I haven't listened to it in a while.

"Gods of A Second Chance" still gives me chills!

This is my favorite MC album. Waiting for a Savior gets the vote.

This is gonna sound off-the-wall, but this happens to be my favorite Howe record. I know, weird, right?

What amazes me about this album is that, what with the poor mix, terrible art, and ridiculous label demands, they actually won in putting out some of their finest work. The dynamics and melodic range of these songs are amazing, and oddly seem even more focused than the previous two Howe albums. It was my favorite when I bought it on cassette as a kid, and it's still my favorite (I now have a Greek bootleg) today.

Anyway, my favorite track is actually not listed here, which is understandable since it was a Japanese bonus cut, "Low to Overdrive." Video is posted below. Picking from this list, though, I'd have to go with the epic, sprawling Little Boy. That thing just maneuvers from wicked riff to wicked riff with a seriously sinister interlude, and Mike's snarl is supreme. [god, that's four words in one sentence that start with an 's.' I should be writing for Buzzfeed]

This is also where Kurdt got REAL proggy with Little Boy and End of the Age.

"Gods Of Second Chance"

corplhicks wrote:

Anyway, my favorite track is actually not listed here, which is understandable since it was a Japanese bonus cut, "Low to Overdrive."

That's a really good song. Sounds very familiar. I must have heard it somewhere (maybe this same video).

That is a great track. I have the Japanese Import version, too.

Little Boy

Still missing from my collection. Hope it gets properly reissued one day.

This is an awesome album. I love the whole thing but I'm going with Little Boy.

007 wrote:

This is an awesome album. I love the whole thing but I'm going with Little Boy.