REVIEW: SACRED REICH – AWAKENING (2019)

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The other day I got a press release sent to the MV inbox about a new punk band.

“Punk rock didn’t die,” it said. “It just took occasional naps…..”

The same is possibly true of thrash metal.

OK so yeah, there’s been some fabulous stuff from the likes of Death Angel, Overkill, Testament, Warbringer and others over the last few years, but has that been enough?

Which is why news of the return after 23 years of Phoenix’s Sacred Reich was so warmly received.

See, to those of us who were too young to have had our hi-tops on in the early 80s when Metallica and the other big 3 were at their most vicious, the second wave was a lot of fun. SR’s 1990 classic “The American Way” did it for us, to be fair, even the glam kids like me got it, and got it.

Well, now they’re back, with two original members for those that are counting, (and Dave McLain, who was there from 1991 to 95 when he joined some band who let freedom ring with a shotgun blast) but that kind of doesn’t matter, because the attitude is the same, and so is the sound. Almost.

And I say almost because for as much as Phil Rind’s brand of social consciousness resonates more today than ever, and as much as this is still speed metal of the most speedy, “Awakening” is still a modern sounding record.

Eight songs and just over half an hour, everything about it says “masters of their craft, back with something vital to say.”

The rumble of the title track, the screech of the lead – and guitarist Wiley Arnett has been at Rind’s side throughout – and the singer himself at his chest beating, belligerent best.

However, SR were always pretty accessible in their brutality, and so it is here. Pretty much every one of them has a chorus you can sing to go along with the desire for a moshpit. “Divide And Conquer” could engender a wall of death, but it still makes you think. And although McLain smashes all kinds of crap out of his drums on “Salvation”, the way Rind spits the words “the congregation is you and me” leads you to think that it is you, me and Sacred Reich against the world.

Rhythm guitarist Joey Radziwill wasn’t even born when the band last released a record (scary huh?) but has beefed up the sound, and “Manifest Reality” is almost the perfect modern thrash song. “Be the change you want” orders Rind, in such a way that suggests you best not trifle with him.

Lyrically, “Awakening” covers the usual thrash themes. “Killing Machine” gives itself away with its military drumbeat, but the tale of an immigrant family, who’s son gives his life for the USA is brilliantly poignant, while “Death Valley” has a big, swinging dick of a groove and a cowbell driven melody.

“Revolution” is perhaps the most old skool thing here. Less than three minutes and a maelstrom of chaos, while “Something To Believe” balances this out a touch by being the most hard rock out of all of them. It wouldn’t be a stretch really to imagine this being something Corrosion Of Conformity did.

In a way it is the perfect ending too, because working with Arthur Rizk, they have constructed something that adds to the canon, updates the sound, but adds to the legacy.

It really isn’t too much of an exaggeration to say that “Awakening” has breathed new life into thrash.

Rating 9.5/10

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