SACRED STEEL - "WARGODS OF METAL" (METAL BLADE)
SACRED STEEL - "WARGODS OF METAL" (METAL BLADE)
A year ago almost to the day, German band Sacred Steel released their debut album, "Reborn of Steel". Filled with old Judas Priest style tunes and lyrics (filled with "hail", "gods", "metal", "steel", "true", "battle" and "war") they became the harsher, more aggressive equivalent of fellow retro-metallers Hammerfall.
Now they're back on the fields of carnage to wield the sword mercilessly in order to crush the false and drink deceiver-blood from their skulls. "Wargods of Metal" is the second album by these self-proclaimed true metallers, once more filled with lyrics involving Teutonic glorification of war, delivered by appropriately nicknamed "Metal Siren", Gerrit Mutz. Though perhaps less melodic than their debut, and more roughly produced (by Bill Metoyer), the album still contains thirteen classic retro-type true metal tracks with titles like "Iron Legions", "By Steel We Rule", "Crusader of the Metal Blade" and the somewhat cliched "Heavy Metal to the End" and "Army of Metalheads".
I don't really care if Sacred Steel are true or not, nor whether they are to be taken seriously. Neither do I care too much for their lyrics which, if you're not under the influence of at least half a dozen kegs of beer, may come across a trifle silly. But fact is that they have succeeded in releasing another album with excellent songs, not one of them a ballad. Get it.
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RK
Written October 1998