What is it with thrash bands coming back from the grave and sounding even better the second time around? I’m reminded of bands like Exodus and more recently, Exhorder who while were great back in the 80’s, just absolutely slayed it with their comeback material. Some may disagree but there’s no denying the power of these bands when done right and one such band who has returned with their first new album in over 2 decades is Sacred Reich with “Awakening”.
The album title is quite fitting in the times we live in but also from the band’s personal point of view with their return from hiatus releasing new songs. It’s been a long time coming, 23 years and counting but it’s been worth the wait after going through these songs. Ex-Machine Head drummer Dave McClain rejoins the band along with a slightly different lineup including new blood from guitarist Joey Radziwill with original frontman Phil Rind leading the way resulting in a fun thrash metal record.
The title track opens things up with a fresh assault, no messing around, just straight to business. It’s thrashy but it does switch it up periodically leading to a killer breakdown at the end giving us what’s possibly the heaviest that Sacred Reich have reached. “Divide & Conquer” pulls into more speedy stuff and a little more on point too. “Salvation” is a foot stomper of a song, melodic and full of hooks but the show stealer here is “Manifest Reality” which showcases the best of Sacred Reich. It’s a beast of a song full of anticipated riffs and wildly aggressive parts and a track that will no doubt be a future classic.
More chugg goodness comes in the form of “Killing Machine“, old school groove that digs right into those pockets just right. Moving a bit away from the metal side is “Death Valley“, a more heavy rock kind of song that shows the roots of the band while “Revolution” brings things back to the thrashy side with a punk infused speed metal fastball. “Something To Believe” carries forward more hard rock to close things out.
“Awakening” is a surprisingly versatile album and that long hiatus has resulted in an album with more dimensions than their older material. But there’s plenty of the fast and heavy here to appease the metal head within so if you like your music heavy with a classic tone to it, this is one to get into.
8/10
TRACKLIST
Awakening
Dive & Conquer
Salvation
Manifest Reality
Killing Machine
Death Valley
Revolution
Something to Believe
