Sacrifice – The Ones I Condemn

With the unstoppable stream of returning old Thrash Metal legends (as well as some lesser heroes), you would almost think they are all here again. From the top of the international Thrash Metal scene with Forbidden and Sacred Reich to the more ‘cult’ underground with bands like Exumer and Living Death. The latter category also includes Canadian Sacrifice, who delivered an underground classic with ‘Forward To Termination’ in the 1980’s.

Personally, I am always a little afraid of new releases from old bands. There are enough examples to cite that these do not always turn out well, and there is another question to be answered: are we really waiting for this? Wouldn’t we concert-goers rather just hear the classics?

Well, Canadian Sacrifice chose to record a new album anyway and the result is here: ‘The Ones I Condemn’. After listening to this new one, I cannot unequivocally say what the outcome is. On the one hand, it’s hard to deny that the whole thing does sound tasty and the album certainly doesn’t look out of place in the current musical climate. But on the other hand, it still seems to lack that little bit extra that made ‘Forward To Termination’ just such an underrated Thrash Metal classic. A riff like on ‘Re-Animation’ I unfortunately do not hear on ‘The Ones I Condemn’. So the statement in the biography that this is the band’s best album so far is really a (rather large) bridge too far. Nice to realise, though, that the band has clearly always been ahead of its time. This new album sounds like extremely modern, riff-heavy, up-tempo even slightly Hardcore-induced Thrash Metal, not entirely different from, say, The Haunted’s (good) first records. Even the addition of a guest appearance of Dave Hewson from the legendary Slaughter, brings back that old school Thrash Metal feeling. Can’t say the modern sound suits them badly, but it leaves me a bit conflicted.

It is nice to see the band back and hopefully they will soon hit the road too. About the album, I don’t think the band delivered a bad comeback record per se, and we can be sure that many will be enjoying this album, but I personally doubt its added value. In any case, I’m going to put ‘Forward To Termination’ on the turntable again!