The first official photo of the new METAL CHURCH lineup — featuring the band’s returning vocalist Mike Howe — can be seen below.

Howe, who fronted METAL CHURCH from 1988 until 1994, officially rejoined the band in April.

In the summer of 2014, METAL CHURCH suddenly found themselves in need of a new singer. As fate would have it, guitarist Kurdt Vanderhoof was already in talks with Mike for another project that he was working on with SAXON drummer Nigel Glockler, so he decided to ask Mike to rejoin METAL CHURCH. Mike agreed, but true to form, didn’t want to make it official until he knew for sure that the integrity of the new material was there.

Audio snippets of two new METAL CHURCH demo tracks, “Find Your Way” and “Killing Your Time“, are available in the YouTube clip above.

Both songs will be included on METAL CHURCH‘s forthcoming album, to be released in early 2016 via Rat Pak Records. The tracks feature the lineup of Mike Howe (vocals), Kurdt Vanderhoof (guitar), Jeff Plate (drums), Steve Unger (bass) and Rick Van Zandt (lead guitar).

METAL CHURCH 2015 is:

Mike Howe (vocals)
Kurdt Vanderhoof (guitar)
Jeff Plate (drums)
Steve Unger (bass)
Rick VanZandt (guitar)

(via Metal Storm)