The silence surrounding Metal Church‘s internal shake-up has finally been broken, and former vocalist Marc Lopes is not holding back. In a candid and fiery appearance on the latest episode of “The Big Truth Podcast,” Lopes detailed the chaotic end of his tenure with the legendary metal outfit, describing a situation rife with poor communication, hidden agendas, and a complete lack of professional courtesy.
Lopes, who joined the band in the summer of 2022 following the tragic passing of frontman Mike Howe, recorded only one studio album with the group: 2023’s Congregation Of Annihilation.
Despite the album’s critical success, Lopes found himself ousted in favor of a new lineup that was announced last November—a lineup he claims he wasn’t even properly informed about until it hit the internet.
According to Lopes, the trouble began when the band canceled their 2024 tour dates due to guitarist Kurdt Vanderhoof‘s back issues. From that point on, communication effectively ceased.
“For most of 2025 nobody knew what was going on with Metal Church,” Lopes told the podcast. “When Metal Church canceled the tour in 2024, there was a lot of things going on behind the scenes that we didn’t make public, obviously. People get mad, people have disagreements, and we kind of just let things lay for where they were in hopes that maybe we could have a conversation, like adults should. If there’s a disagreement, resolve it one way or the other, whether it’s yes or no, or whatever the case may be. But there was no communication for that whole time. And I did a lot of interviews and a lot of people would always ask [about Metal Church‘s status], and when I said I didn’t know it was, it was the truth — I did not know.”
The situation reached a breaking point when the band publicly unveiled their “revitalized” roster featuring Vanderhoof, Rick Van Zandt, bassist David Ellefson, drummer Ken Mary, and new singer Brian Allen. For Lopes, discovering his replacement via social media was the ultimate betrayal.
“In a nutshell, now we’ve come out to where we are now, it’s basically no integrity. The cowardice of not confronting any of the issues, whether good or bad, it didn’t matter, in my book, that doesn’t work… That doesn’t fly. If there’s an issue, no matter what it is, either you freaking take it out in the school yard, so to say, or you have that discussion and each person goes ‘f**k you’ and that’s the end of it. But when that doesn’t even happen, that’s a tough nail to bite. And then, obviously, the conclusion of it is to find out everything on the Internet. That was the ultimate ‘f**k you’. And that does not bide well with me personally, which will be addressed in another time. [Laughs]”
When asked if there was any chance of reconciliation or further movement with the band, Lopes shut down the idea immediately, labeling the entire ordeal as deceptive.
“Oh, no, dude. They announced a whole new lineup, new single, new album. Oh, yeah. That’s all done. They totally bamboozled us. And, yeah, it’s pretty, pretty disgusting what happened.”
He also took aim at internet commenters accusing him of playing the victim, clarifying that his anger stems from a lack of respect rather than the loss of the gig itself.
“It’s kind of funny. Obviously, somebody always likes to tag you on something [on social media] and I saw one comment that made me f**king laugh. They’re, like, ‘Oh, he knew, and he’s just playing victim.’ I’m, like, ‘Listen, motherf**ker, you have no f**king idea, ’cause you’re not in it. You’re not involved in it. And I can tell you right now, right f**king right here, I’m not playing victim.’ F**king victim of what? That whole thing was a s**t show from day one, if you wanna know the truth. But to not have conversations and get totally slighted like that, especially in public, and then saying that we quit?! Nobody f**king quit. Nobody was fired. You just threw it under the table. ‘They’re not gonna [notice]. No one’s gonna notice.’ [Laughs] And you know what? Honestly, that’s the only thing that bothered me. You think that you are working with people that are supposed to be comrades, you’re with them on tour day to day, and then they just totally blow you off and disregard, like not even having a conversation to even say, ‘Hey, look, you know what?! We’re gonna go in another direction,’ or, ‘We don’t agree with this or what that was.’ But not to have that?”
Despite the bitterness of the split, Lopes expressed pride in the work he did on Congregation Of Annihilation and his gratitude for his ongoing work with Ross The Boss. However, he made it clear that he has no desire to cross paths with his former bandmates anytime soon.
“Let’s just put it this way, it was business, business — that’s all I’m gonna say — it was business that the whole thing started to crumble. And it didn’t have to end like that. But you know what?! Hey, whatever. The thing is this, like I said. And the fans are gonna go. They’re gonna go. If they’re happy, that’s cool. Great. I’m grateful for what I did while I was there. Everybody was awesome. I thank them, and the support was awesome. And I did what I had to do. One and done. The album did great. It got great reviews. The tours were awesome. I have no regret in any of that. [Do] I wish it would’ve went down different? Absolutely. You know what I mean?! But the moral of that story is communication is very important in everything. A lot of those things could have been avoided just by having a simple conversation. But when certain parties don’t wanna even deal with it and they just want to take their ball and go home?! So there it is. What can you do? And that’s the honest truth. I mean, that’s as far as I’m getting into it right now. But that’s where it’s at. Go enjoy the new record. Do what you want. But I’m not there. [Laughs] … I’m being nice. [Laughs] I just hope we’re never on the same show with them. [Laughs]”
