Musically, there's a lot to like here on Heavy Metal Sacrifice, the latest release from German power metal act Sacred Steel. With a crisp production and loads of super crunchy guitars, sizzling solos, and rampaging drum work, the album delivers many of the elements needed for a solid, enjoyable metal album. The title cut, "The Sign of the Skull", "Hail the Godz of War", and the frantic "Children of the Sky" are instant headbang & air guitar winners, and the lengthy "Let There Be Steel" mixes epic arrangements with classic '80s styled speed metal. Sounds like all is well then, right? Unfortunately, lyrically, much of what is on display here is beyond cheesy, tracks like "The Dead Walk the Earth", "Vulture Priest", "Chaos Unleashed", and even the title track are either so cliche ridden or just completely laughable, to the point where on more than a few occasions I was saying "tell me they didn't just go there?", which is a real shame as there's actually some fine heavy metal on display throughout the album. The vocals of Gerrit Mutz are solid, mostly of the higher register but also snarling at times, and he fits in quite well next to the non-stop assault of riff-o-rama and acrobatic drumming.
To be honest, there's a lot of power metal acts out there who are even more guilty of laying down the cheese factor than Sacred Steel. At least these guys go the more serious and darker route with their music, so we can cut them a little slack on the ridiculous lyrics. All in all, plenty of fist pumping metal to be found here, just don't expect to be intellectually challenged much.
See more about this release on our recent YouTube show!
Track Listing
1. Intro (Glory Ride)
2. Heavy Metal Sacrifice
3. The Sign Of The Skull
4. Hail The Godz Of War
5. Vulture Priest
6. Children Of The Sky
7. Let There Be Steel
8. Chaos Unleashed
9. The Dead Walk The Earth
10. Beyond The Gates Of Nineveh
11. Iron Donkey
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