### Sacred Reich: The American way

#### 20/08/10 || revenant

Progression. That word is a fucking profanity when used to describe what happened to thrash metal in the late eighties / early nineties. I find this single word more obscene than granny porn or Smalley’s opinion of “Slaughter of the Soul”. It’s a filthy, despicable excuse of a word.

But wait, before this review degenerates into nonsensical rambling, I better back explain what the fuck I’m talking about. First, the dictionary description of “progression” describes something that progresses as having a forward movement. Now let’s look at thrash metal in that period – it was slowed down, riffs became simpler, music catchier and in general the music was made more accessible. Does this sound like a fucking forward movement to you? Of course, there was another term that was introduced to describe this phenomenon – “selling out”.

Sacred Reich hit the scene back in 1987 with “Ignorance” which, had the band’s final legacy been stronger, would have been considered a thrash classic. For their second full length release, the Reich’s sound progressed / sold out considerably. Slamming their foot down on the brake pedal, their music was considerably slowed down. Long intros were removed and guitar riffs were simpler and choruses made catchier. OK, so Phil Rind’s does not have the most beautiful singing voice on the planet, but he too tones it down to make the overall album more accessible than their previous beast.

In all there are 8 tracks and 35 minutes of music here. Of the tracks, I could really have done without “State of Emergency” (dated lyrics and a completely uninteresting riff that goes for over six minutes) and “31 Flavours” (an awkward funk song telling me it’s ok to listen to other styles of music other than metal. Seriously, get the fuck out of here and don’t lecture me on my music tastes. If you want to play funk, do so, just don’t put it on a thrash album, fill it with stupid ice cream lyrics and tell me it’s “cool fool”, because cool it isn’t, cunts). So that leaves six decent tracks, and none of them world conquering. “Crimes Against Humanity” is probably my pick track, mainly for the cool break down section in the middle of the song which makes it stand out from the pack.

So all in all, this is a decent album. Unfortunately though, that’s about the maximum level of excitement I feel for this album. The tunes are quite cool, but there’s nothing there to really get me to bang my head or jump around my living room to. Mid paced thrash can be fun, but it’s not something that ever gets my blood pumping or my adrenalin running, neither is it soft enough to gain mainstream appeal. No wonder thrash died, who the fuck really gets excited about mid paced thrash anyway?

- Information
- Released: 1990
- Label: Hollywood Records
- Website: Sacred Reich MySpace
- Band
- Phil (Orange) Rind: vocals, bass
- Wiley (Coyote) Arnett: guitars
- Jason Rainey (Day): guitars
- Greg (Deck the) Hall: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. Love… Hate
- 02. The American Way
- 03. The Way It Is
- 04. Crimes Against Humanity
- 05. State of Emergency
- 06. Who’s to Blame
- 07. I Don’t Know
- 08. 31 Flavors