Sacred Steel – The Bloodshed Summoning
12th March 2013
Band: Sacred Steel
Album: The Bloodshed Summoning
Record Label: Cruz del Sur Music
Release Date: 16th February 2013
Reviewed By: Mark
Tracklist:
01 – Storm Of Fire 1916
02 – No God – No Religion
03 – When The Siren Calls
04 – The Darkness Of Angels
05 – The Bloodshed Summoning
06 – Under The Banner Of Blasphemy
07 – Black Towers
08 – Crypts Of The Fallen
09 – The Night They Came To Kill
10 – Join The Congregation
11 – Journey Into Purgatory
12 – Doomed To Eternal Hell
13 – Perversions Of The Scriptures
14 – Unbinding The Chains
15 – Dig Up Her Bones (The Misfits Cover)
TRACKS TO PURCHASE – “Storm of Fire 1916“, “No God/No Religion“, “Under the Banner of Blasphemy
Right another album picked at random and never heard of before, however with a name like ‘Sacred Steel‘ and the album being called ‘The Bloodshed Summoning‘ I picked this as I thought it would be power and/or thrash metal. After a quick search on the internet I can confirm that this is the 8th album by ‘Sacred Steel’ who are “Germany’s most extreme power metal band” (according to their own Facebook page).
When I finally get around at looking at the album cover this confirms this as it is set up as a wonderful sword and sorcery comic book themed cover which is a great match for the nostalgia they convey through their lyrical themes of black magic, fantasy warfare and other admittedly staple fare for the genre. Having no prior history of the bands earlier releases I am a nubie to ‘Sacred Steel‘ as I expect a few other people will be.
After listening to the album I can confirm that this is straight up 80’s style Power Metal with hints of Thrash aggression. There aren’t no clichés of modern power metal here, no keyboards, no pedal notes and no cheesy love songs, just balls to the wall metal so bang your fist and shake your head! The riffs use brute force and speed to get the songs going, while the rhythm section are like a phalanx marching off to war; steady and abusive so that they add more force to the tracks. It shows that they have been playing for 15+ years together as they have gelled together and are all synced with each other. From my research of the band a lot of people have questioned Gerrit P. Mutz vocals on previous albums, however on this album he sings more in angry, gravelly shout to a higher melodic power metal range. Gerrit though adds some death metal growls and guttural roar to a serpentine black metal screech into the mix as well. However some times when he goes to hit a high note it can come off as whiney and nasally, which is a little annoying.
Another problem I personally have is the length of the album, clocking in at 61 minutes some of the middle tracks lose a little appeal, but not everyone is perfect as I thought that was a problem with Testaments latest album “Dark Roots of Earth” which is 77 minutes long! Anyway if you want modern, creative metal then walk away now and spend your money on something else, however if you want balls to the wall thrashy power metal then put on your denim jacket, your white high-top trainers, your spiked wrist bands and pump that fist and bang your head. This isn’t anything new or even ground breaking, however it is a very solid album and fans of the genre will probably love it.
SCORE – 6.5 out of 10
Readers album score: {extravote 1}