Sacred Steel - Hammer Of Destruction

Published Dec. 31 2006

*=Staff's pick	Hammer Of Destruction Where Demons Dare To Tread Maniacs Of Speed* Blood And Thunder Impaled By Metal* Descent Of A Lost Soul Black Church Generally Hostile (Jag Panzer Cover) Plague Of Terror* Sword And Axes* The Torch Of Sin

Genre	Thrash/Power Metal	Gerrit P. Mutz	Vocals
Tracks	11	Jens Sonnenberg	Guitar
Runningtime	48 Min.	Jonas Khalil	Guitar
Label	Massacre Records	Kai Schindelar	Bass
Release	10 Nov. 2006	Mathias Straub	Drums
Country	Germany	-	Keyboard
Similar artists	Wizard, Centvrion, Exodus, Hirax

The sacred warriors of steel return truimphant and victorious, willing, ready, and primed to conquer the throne of metal with swords, axes, and the hammer of destruction. These maniacs of speed, mayhem, and sacred bloody steel spread the plague of terror, raising the stakes; where demeaning poseurs dare to tread, only to become impaled. The iron blessings from these wargods of metal are purebred bloodlust, quaking with thunder, pounding infernal hate. One year ago, I was quite dismayed to discover that Jorg M. Knittel and Oliver Grosshans had defected to focus on My Darkest Hate. I thought that this signified the demise of the crusaders of the metal blade. I'm pleased to acknowledge that this evidently was not the decisive conclusion. Gerritt P. Mutz refused to allow this tragedy divide his true force of iron glory. Determined and resolute to never diappoint his army of metalheads, he had Jens Sonnenberg move up to playing guitar from bass, and subsequently hired Lanfear bassist Kai Schindelar. Jonas Khalil was appointed as second guitarist; while the iron legions quickened the skull crushing ballistic drums skills of the mystic prophet - Mathias Straub.

Next he summoned Harris Johns to create that old school mega-thrashing production. This whole CD echoes the 80's with furious speed, ascendant solos, hilarious intros/outros, and a kitsche vinyl aesthetic. Hell, in an interview with his unholy majesty, Mr. Mutz admitted to suggesting that the CD be a dual disc with songs on both sides, but the record company felt that would be too expensive. Sacred Steel settled, then, on vinyl turntable scratchings at the beginning and end of the CD, with artwork on the disc depicting a record. The metal knights, instead, chose to honour their loyal fans by creating a box set limited to 1000 copies with a bonus disc of thrash covers by Death, Raven, Nasty Savage, Tankard; rare and unreleased tracks; a signed band photo; and a stitched jacket patch. The Pounding Inferno cover photo is a toxic array of metal archives and collector nostalgia consisting of old and new prized relics. The lyrics to Pounding Inferno all name bands which Sacred Steel worship in the Metalucifer fashion. With this fan fair, the battle angels of sanctuary have fulfilled their slaughter prophecy - proving that metal reigns supreme!

As the CD begins its violent force rotation replete with the sticking needle sound, the thrashing commences! The storming title track recalls vintage Slayer, Exodus, and Dark Angel. Maniacs Of Speed which is also included as a bonus video is a totally ripping anthem, upholding the truth that that metal is war! Blood And Thunder echoes and reverberates the Manowar/Majesty, MettleAngel motif with allusions to older Sacred Steel songs. Impaled By Metal is a real scorcher like early Agent Steel, Savage Grace, and Lizzy Borden. The lyrics say it all: "If metal's dead - the dead walk the earth...". Sacred Steel defer to all things metal as evidenced by tracks like Where Demons Dare To Tread and The Torch Of Sin. Plague Of Terror channels the energy of Tankard, Sodom, and Wizard, while Swords And Axes, with its live approach, is truly blessed by the iron gods of steel: "Heart - Soul and Mind - Hellbent for Metal! Metal is Life - Metal's Alive!" Just like covering Omen in the past, Jag Panzer is revered with a version generally more hostile and faster than the original.

Many power thrashing maniacs of speed mock Sacred Steel owing to Mutz's musty and scathing vocals. It's the same with Italy's Centvrion who shred, but are hampered by their horrible frontman Germano Quintaba's screeching and wheezing. Truly, Mutz vocals are shrill and piercing, and at times even brutal; still he is an accomplished afficianado who intuits metal's majesty, using his vocal chords appropriately and accordingly. He dubs himself the communicative siren channel. Either way, his range recoils like Katon of Hirax, or John Cyriis of Agent Steel handing over the sceptre. I detect just a touch of sinful sampling from Lizzy Borden as well. Even if his singing rites do not suffice, the music of Sacred Steel is pure dark force aggression. The only slower epic track is Black Church. There are no ballads or bull$hit. So heed the battle cry, raise the metal fist, open wide the gates - crush the holy - save the damned, and prepare to become impaled by heavy metal to the end!