Presented on red and clear splatter vinyl.
From the crusty realms to the mountains of doom!
A truly important entity that managed to carve their own individualistic sound from the get-go with this abrasive crust/punk/hardcore/thrash “madness” that was their debut. The sophomore continued consolidating their reputation as a less ordinary band the guys (and a girl) insisting on their hypnotic, monolithic mid-paced delivery without any unnecessary flourishes. Speed was out of the question, but one hardly needed it in this particular case as the band were the requisite antidote to the myriads of fast-paced riffmongers with which the scene had started filling in.
The year is 1989, and Sacrilege’s third opus is a fact. What has changed on this “trilobite”, you may wonder? No change would have been perfect since the band had already established a fairly individualistic approach to the genre, with a loyal following… Well, there was no end to evolution, and here is the biggest surprise: this is a doom metal recording showing an obvious fascination with the works of the Swedish heroes Candlemass and Mercy, and of course the fathers of all things doom Black Sabbath. Not much left from their ultimately charming, unclean, rough dirgy thrash; the production has been polished down to the -D-, and “Father Time” is the officiant stomping opener with Lynda Simpson showing her more lyrical vocal side. More energetic gallops appear later to remind of the band’s past glories, but the dark doom-laden riffage remains unperturbed by those deviations. “Silent Dark” is doom at its most shining best, a hymn that would have been a highlight even on “Nightfall” (Candlemass), an enchanting symbiosis of melody and heaviness that relies on the gallop again for the more dynamic additive although later on more aggressive, nearly thrashy, rhythms make themselves heard. Not to worry as this is doom metal all the same with a more brutal engine akin to Candlemass’ “Ancient Dreams”.