review: Sacrilege

Sacrilege

The Court of the Insane

Pure Underground Records

2nd August 2019

Metal Archives registers no less than eight bands named Sacrilege (It could be worse; there are 11 bands named Sacrifice, and even worse, there are 20 bands named Tormentor). In addition, this Sacrilege, the New Wave of British Heavy Metal one, is not the other British band (punk; then thrash; then melodic doom) that the older generation may remember from the three studio albums in the 1980s because, according to Metal Archives, this NWOBHM band had only three demos in the 1980s. Then there was silence the 1990s and the 2000s.

This is now their seventh album. Talk about late bloomers! The albums began arriving in 2011 and this is the one for 2019. Maybe the musicians’ kids grew up and moved out of the house, and now the guys have discovered that they are able to keep making music. Can you imagine what it is like to be called a NWOBHM band and to have three demos from the 1980s? There are actually hundreds of those bands that recorded only a demo or a single, if that. Can you also imagine going through decades of thinking about one day resurrecting the band?

That’s what must have happened at some point in 2011 when the music started rolling down the pipeline. They are elderly British gentlemen that were inspired by the greats of the 1970s and early 1980s, and that’s what they play. The riffs are in the style of classic heavy metal and hard rock, and thinking of the music as an updated or current version of 1980 heavy metal is not far from the mark. The main thing is to have rocking songs and in the familiar format of verses and choruses, and with melodies and solos. The riffs are big and catchy, with a certain foundation of the year 1980 (think: Sabbath, Priest, Scorpions) and the new sounds that inspired youth to form bands. The vocals are gritty (DIY or street metal; not polished and layered) and the lyrics a bit on the angry side, like someone who watches the news and reacts to politicians, preachers, crime, etc. In short, fans of the NWOBHM and oldie heavy metal in general have another album to pick up this summer.

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