Customer Reviews

Another Return to Church Hill [Vinyl]

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Released in 1989 on Metal Blade Records, Another Return to Church Hill was the debut album from Norwegian power metal band Artch. The album was originally released overseas in 1988 as simply Another Return. The band refined the American power metal sound of bands like Crimson Glory, Queensryche, Armored Saint and early Fates Warning (which in turn was a refinement of the original power metal sound of Iron Maiden and Judas Priest), adding elements of the emerging thrash style to the mix. The result is an album of technical and speedy power metal, polished as only a European band could. The band's closest US counterparts are probably Powersurge and to some extent Vicious Rumors, but Artch definitely had a more progressive sound.

Artch went on to release one additional album - 1991's For the Sake of Mankind - before disbanding. Another Return to Church Hill is an album that isn't going to have a very wide appeal, but if you're a fan of the late 80's heavy metal sound, particularly of what Metal Blade was releasing at the time, and are looking for something you might have missed the first time around, you should definitely give Artch a shot if you're fortunate enough to run across one of their albums.

The track listing is as follows:
1. Conversio Prelude
2. Another Return to Church Hill
3. Power to the Man
4. Loaded
5. Where I Go
6. Metal Life
7. The Promised Land
8. Shoot To Kill
9. Living in the Past
10. Reincarnation