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Sacrifice > Soldiers of Misfortune > Reviews
Sacrifice - Soldiers of Misfortune

"Life's So Unkind" - 97%

VictimOfScience, March 3rd, 2024
Written based on this version: 1990, CD, Fringe Product

As it turns out, 1990 has been quite possibly the strongest year in the history of Canadian thrash metal. Not only did Razor's punishing and furious Shotgun Justice come out that year, but fellow countrymen, Sacrifice's greatest release, Soldiers of Misfortune also saw the light of day. The two albums don't have anything in common, besides two things. They are both thrash metal and are among the greatest of their kind in the given period. While Razor chose extreme musical anger and violence, Sacrifice walked the path of refinement, sophistication, and precision.

The band decided to go even further into calculated aggression after Sacrifice's real self came to life on the predecessor Forward to Termination. It's not to say that the band was immature on the previous release, because that was an excellent effort. However, this is even better, where the band's career peaked once and for all. The band manages to release massive amounts of frustration and anger, but in such a way that it almost sounds like it's all part of a very intellectually driven, well-articulated 8-page essay in the form of thrash metal. Whether or not this might be thanks to Rob Urbinati's frantic, angry yet very intelligible vocals, or Gus Pynn's metrically flawless percussion that never skips or adds a beat throughout the whole record, this is pretty much as good as this subcategory of thrash metal will get.

Choosing highlights becomes a daunting task when looking at a masterpiece like this. Every song here is worthy of the highest praise, but let's look at the starter "As The World Burns", which takes off at a rather fast tempo, over a simple yet intriguing main riff. The clever two-guitar arrangements are very stylish and effective, and so is the beautiful, coherent guitar solo after the song slows down. Perhaps the song that's the most unlike the rest of the album is "In Defiance", but it's probably also the strongest. This is Sacrifice being a brutality-oriented thrash band for the length of a song, but it only sounds brutal when you compare it to the rest of this same release. It is unbelievably strong with its pummeling double-pedal madness and its simplistic, but all the more catchy riffs. You also have the more than 10-minute-long closer, "Truth (After The Rain)", which is very complex and well beyond most thrash bands, when you look at it from a coherence and technicality point of view. It even closes with a mellow, melodic instrumental section towards the end, that's one of the best closings I've heard to a thrash album. After this record, why not? They demonstrated how coherent and intelligent thrash can be better than nearly anyone this year, so why not cool the jets a little?

It is always thought-provoking to hear these albums from 25, 30, and 35 years ago that sound way better than how nearly anything sounds today. It doesn't make any sense technology-wise, but this is one of those albums. It is crystal clear, as clear as anything in 1990, and it's flawlessly balanced. One interesting element is the snare, which is way rawer and punchier than one that a record like this would typically utilize, but it works very well with the thick and muscular guitar tone. Behind all of this is the bass, which is clean and smooth, matching the whole picture and identity of the record (and the band, by this time).

Few people on Earth love brutality-focused thrash metal like Demolition Hammer, Morbid Saint, Dark Angel, Sadus, Razor, or Gammacide more than I do. Despite that, there is a time and place for Sacrifice's Soldiers of Misfortune among my favorite thrash albums. This is truly a "thinking man's thrash album", with very well-articulated vocal delivery, polished and complex songwriting, and perfect production.

In defiance of the storm as the world burns - 81%

Felix 1666, July 6th, 2023

Dear children, whether you are 15 or 55 years old, let me tell you: it doesn't take that much to make good music. A propulsive riff, a rough voice and a shot of courage, sometimes it doesn't need a whole lot more. Okay, a solid and precise rhythm section with a drummer who feels like playing fast beats can't hurt. If all this comes together, the result can sound something like "Soldiers of Misfortune".

Canada, the Scandinavia of America, left its mark on the metal map already 40 years ago. 1983: “Heavy Metal Maniac”. 1984: “War and Pain” and “Metal Inquisition”. 1985: “Executioner’s Song”. And then came Sacrifice with their debut (1986) and their masterpiece “Forward to Termination” in 1987. It was no easy job for “Soldiers of Misfortune” to follow in the footsteps of its largely brilliant predecessor. But at least its first three songs were on an equal footing with the jewels of the 1987 release. On the one hand, we have the title track, a pretty multi-layered track with a lot of different tempos. Without being as complex as “Flames of Armageddon”, the piece follows a comparable approach. On the other hand, Sacrifice fire two typical thrash torpedoes. “As the World Burns” is already great and its lyrics (“we go forward to termination”) do not only build a smart bridge to the previous milestone. Moreover, they have been nearly prophetic: “When the sun will scorch the earth… skin cancer like a plague”. Welcome, climate change! Music-wise, all riffs and lines are completely convincing and the dynamic tempo changes and the excellent solo add further value to the title. Nevertheless, “In Defiance” is almost better in view of its highly effective guitar work. It takes the straight line in a fast and heavy manner, not overloaded, but always accurate and nearly light-footed. Once again, the lyrics have a prophetic touch, they seem to be dedicated to a lot of today’s politicians: “your ideas of life are nothing but absurd”.

The further tracks cannot fully compete with the triple strike at the beginning. A surprising number of mid-tempo parts (a few of them without the final kick), some even melancholic moments (“Lost Through Time” or the closer) and an improvable degree of intensity characterize the material – which is still good. Not overwhelming, but good and even 33 years after its release, it still sounds fresh. Among other things, this is a merit of the timeless production. The guitars sound exactly like thrash guitars should sound, the clarity of the mix is not at the expense of its vitality and the rebellious undertone of Urbinati’s voice will probably never go out of fashion.

“A Storm in the Silence” is much more storm than silence, another high speed neckbreaker with crisp and lively guitars. The song appears as the brother of “In Defiance” and reaches almost its brilliant level. Finally, everything culminates in the epic closer which shows a rather calm facet of the band. If Urbinati would be Leather Leone, this could be a song of Chastain as well with regard to its meticulous arrangement and some dominant guitar parts. A good closer, no more, no less. It brings an album to its end which fought a battle that could be not won. Its predecessor was too mighty. But some armies lose with dignity (there are even said to be metalheads who age gracefully). “Soldiers of Misfortune” is one of these armies.

Paying more attention to dynamic possibilities - 92%

Agonymph, February 3rd, 2019
Written based on this version: 2006, 2CD, Marquee Records (Limited edition)

By the early nineties, most of the thrash metal bands that had been around for a decade were altering their sound to varying degrees. In many cases, this change meant slowing down significantly or dumbing down the music. Sacrifice, however, managed to refine its sound considerably while avoiding the pitfalls that usually come with such progress. After two enjoyable, but somewhat monotonous thrash metal records in the eighties, 'Soldiers Of Misfortune' adds more depth to the Canadians' sound. It isn't exactly progressive thrash metal, but paying more attention to dynamic possibilities within the boundaries of their sound meant a strong improvement.

Essentially, 'Soldiers Of Misfortune' is characterized by the same elements as Sacrifice's earlier work. The guitar riffs of Joe Rico and Rob Urbinati are razor sharp, the latter's venom-spitting vocal delivery - think Tom Angelripper with hints of Darren Travis - helps set the band apart from the pack and Gus Pynn is one of the most unjustly overlooked drummers in thrash metal. The tweaks Sacrifice made to their sound may seem minor at first, but they turn out to be very relevant. Most importantly: the tempo changes. Sacrifice songs used to speed by viciously, but the impact of separate sections has been increased here by shifting tempos strategically.

That doesn't mean that Sacrifice has been watered down to a mid-tempo groove metal band, however. 'Soldiers Of Misfortune' is far from a 'Black Album'-ish snoozefest. In fact, the most prominent midtempo track ('Soldiers Of Misfortune' itself) makes brilliant use of subtle shifts in tempo and time feel. It may be remembered for its massive doomy intro, but the brooding feel of the first faster riff is equally impressive. 'Lost Through Time' is another track that proves an evil atmosphere can be reached even at mid-tempo. The song makes excellent use of space.

Sacrifice still proves to be excellent at uptempo thrash here. 'In Defiance' was destined to become a live classic, as the riffs are highly memorable and the song is a shot of energy. 'A Storm In The Silence' excels at violent thrash polkas after a relatively atmospheric intro, while opener 'As The World Burns' perfectly bridges the full-speed rabid menace of the past with a somewhat more refined approach. Closer 'Truth (After The Rain)' is the band's most ambitious track to date. They took some progressive hints from Rush (the influence of 'Xanadu' on the intro is fairly obvious) and ran with that in what is ultimately a dark thrasher with lots of cool, vaguely Arabic-sounding riffs.

If 'Soldiers Of Misfortune' is proof of anything, it would be that maturing is not something to automatically run away from if you are in a thrash metal band. Sure, lots of bands ruined their sound with it, but Sacrifice is one of those cases where a little more refinement has truly enhanced their sound without sounding alien to anyone who liked their sound before. In addition, the guitar solos and overall songwriting have become significantly more memorable in the process. It is truly a pity that the band was done for by the mid-nineties, but they reformed recently and are still playing live. They have yet to release something as brilliant as 'Soldiers Of Misfortune', but never say never.

Recommended tracks: 'As The World Burns', 'Truth (After The Rain)', 'In Defiance'

Originally written for my Kevy Metal weblog

The best thrash album ever. - 100%

ozzeh, July 17th, 2018

I am loathe to give 100% ratings to anything short of Priest's "Painkiller" but Sacrifice have earned it with "Soldiers of Misfortune". Now I will tell you why.

Borne from the icy region of Canada, Sacrifice are razor-sharp where others like Razor are more raw production-wise. Case in point is the lush sound of the twin guitar mastery. They're more interested in riffage, than say, the searing lead guitar technics of Kisser on "Beneath the Remains". And there are such epic moments like on the start of "Truth (After the rain)", but largely they lean closer to the side of solos than leads in the spectrum of thrash guitar pyrotechnics.

Vocally these Canadians sound closer to the German thrash sound (Destruction) than their genre-era USA counterparts (D.R.I.); in fact, vocally they're closer to Symbolic-era Death than anything, and the vocals complement the music perfect in terms of a throaty, comprehendible blackened thrash sound.

Clocking in at 40:00 approximately, it's truly without a dull or redundant moment; hence the 100% rating. Thrash can have a formulaic tendency which can grow cloying but Sacrifice manage to abstain from that common short-coming which can infiltrate the greatness of fellow Canadians Razor.

However though, they're no less aggressive than the blood-soaked anthems Razor are famous for; indeed, Sacrifice are heavier sounding, more polished, and quite frankly, better musicians. Sacrifice does not rely on riffs alone or solos to carry this epic masterpiece; diversity can be found in the mellow sounding intro of the eponymous track, reminiscent of USA thrash legends Forsaken on "Twisted into Form".

Every song is quality metal that will get you head-banging against your will. Thematically it centers on war, the absurdity of modern society, and non-conformism which defines early-90s thrash. Virtuoso solos are found on nearly every song, and indeed, every musician is at the top of his game.

The bass is a highlight and the backbone of this crushing monolith of neck-breaking metal mastery. Rich sounding and fully complimentary to the guitar wizardry, the rhythm backbone comprised of the bass and drum interplay might be what garners such accolades from these ears.

Discharge's "Hear Nothing, See Nothing, Say Nothing" is one of my favorite albums of all time, but percussively it leans towards the d-beat sound which hard-core punk and crossover thrash are known for. "Soldiers of Misfortune" however, has a technical and organic drum element which is also a highlight of its overall impact.

In terms of ferocity it can be best compared with Demolition Hammer's "Epidemic of Violence" which is also a classic of death/thrash metal. This is for fans of Forsaken, Coroner, Sabbat, Death, Bulldozer, Destruction, DRI, Rigor Mortis, Sepultura, and Razor. The difference is that Sacrifice holds the mantle above, and has thrown the gauntlet down on all the aforementioned.

I only mention other bands in order to introduce them into the public consciousness, not as a method of describing Sacrifice's sound on "Soldiers of Misfortune"; they stand alone.

A Notch Down - 84%

StainedClass95, July 15th, 2014

This is a pretty good album. This just isn't as good as Forward to Termination. It lacks that album's visceral power, superb drum sound, variety of riffs, and vocal wildness. What it gains, better solos, slightly better technique, better lyrics, and more pace variation, just isn't enough to keep it from falling.

One of the first things you will notice between this album and the previous, is the difference in atmosphere. The last one felt like a soundtrack to Armageddon. This one is different, it's moodier. This has a cleaner, somewhat colder, and higher-pitched production. It seems to me that this album is going for the horrors of war approach. This is much more psychological. To some, this loftier goal gives it a sense of added maturity and strength. I don't, as I disagree with the idea that deeper lyrics equals better music. As to which atmosphere is better, I believe that is a judgement call.

The main improvement and strength of this album would have to be the solos. These are much better solos than what was seen by them previously. Really, only Megadeth, Frank Blackfire, and a couple of the melodic thrash bands consistently did better solos than this. As a whole, I think the guitars are much higher in the mix than previously. In Forward, if you lost the drums, it was the production. Here, it's because the guitars overwhelmed them. This is frequent and unpleasant. Sadly, for all their improved technicality, they ended up regressing in the riffing department. There is only a fraction of the variety of riffs found on Termination. I suspect this is the reason they varied the tempos so much, is to hide this fact. It gives off a vibe of difference, but really they start recycling riffs far too early. Overall, I think I slightly preferred the riffing goodness of the predecessor.

The drumming is slightly improved. As is usual, experience has sharpened the drummer. He does a very good job on here and normally this would make him a major high of the album. As mentioned prior, the genius production hurts that. He gets overwhelmed, and I don't know how, but his kit sounded much better before. There's one other problem concerning how they mixed the drums. The bass player doesn't have a song where he shines, but he comes out from time to time. The problem with this, is where he's at in-between. Essentially, he is almost merging with the drums for much of the album. This gives the drums a very odd bounce, and it is a consistent distraction, not to mention that I can't perfectly make out the bass. This is an overall drop-off as well.

The vocals are reined in compared to Forward. He isn't as unpredictable as he had been. He really doesn't shriek much either. This tilts his vocals more toward Schmier on Release From Agony. His lyrics may be slightly better this time, as they do cover more serious ground this time. I don't put much emphasis on lyrics that aren't apparent on first listen, but the improvement is noticeable. I would argue that this essentially does cancel out, and this area hasn't declined.

All of this does combine to give Forward to Termination an advantage over Soldiers of Misfortune, but it's not a blow-out. Also like it's predecessor, this isn't especially original. Most of these ideas have been touched upon before, this time I believe Sodom's Agent Orange did this better. This is still a pretty good album. Would I consider this necessary for a thrasher? Probably not, but I'd still recommend it to any.

A More Matured Sacrifice. - 88%

Metal_Jaw, March 6th, 2013

For almost four years Sacrifice was quiet as the metal world slowly shifted around them. In 1991 they put out their 3rd studio effort "Soldiers of Misfortune", an attempt to keep thrash alive even as grunge and groove lurked round the corner. Sacrifice's 3rd album sees the boys from Toronto composing a thrash album to compete with more technical works from guys like Metallica or Testament. The result: a dark, thought-provoking effort that while lacking the balls out insanity and memorability of the legendary "Forward To Termination", is still a very strong effort with its horns and heart in the right places.

Sacrifice have fine-tuned themselves into a quartet of tight thrashing machines at this point in time, improving even over their already tumultuous efforts on "Forward To Termination". Rob Urbanati still spits pure, forceful venom without a second thought, and his rhythm set is menacing and intense in its execution. Joe Rico's leads slay with technicality and a sense of mood, grandeur and sharp aggression. Scott Watts' bass isn't invisible, but not too high in the mix; even still it adds to the sound nicely with his meaty yet fuzzy sounds. A major highlight is the drumming of Gus Pynn, whose intricate uses of double bass, snare and the cymbals must be heard to be appreciated.

The aggression has been scaled back just a bit on here compared to the last album, but it still bites pretty hard even with the cleaner production. Additionally, the lyrical content is far more thought-provoking compared to the gritty horror movie lyrics of the group's first two albums. Subjects such as the destruction of the ozone layer, the mysteries of history, maintaining individuality and suffering caused by war are touched upon. Now I'm gonna say this right now, there's one song I HATE on here, and that is the closer "Truth (After The Rain)". Yeah yeah, give me all your hate mail, call me shallow, tell me "I don't get it", but fuck it anyway. I don't like this song. I'm sure the guys worked hard on it and all that...but it's SOOO BORING! At ten minutes in length, it stretches itself and maintains too few musical ideas and becomes pretty bring pretty quick unlike "Seventh Son of A Seventh Sons" or your "Skullcrushers". Most everything else is pretty much golden though. Some highlights? The title track is pretty unique, a tense, slowish cooker that starts building up towards the end. The catchy "Lost Through Time" plays like tighter, more aggressive take on NWOBHM number. The punchy, vicious "Existence Within Eternity" has some really nice guitar lines and a sweet, brutal break that pops up throughout the song. My personal favorite is the biting riffest "In Defiance" for the killer opening drum roll, some memorable main riffs and a cooking little solo.

Overall, "Soldiers of Misfortune" isn't my favorite Sacrifice album or even my preferred Canadian thrash record, but I'd have to be an idiot not to appreciate its merits. The bandmates are tight, aggressive and creative, the lyrical content is strong and most of the songs themselves slay, even if I never found that they hold as much memorability for me personally. A strong, solid album, and highly worthwhile for anyone with an appreciation for good thrash metal.

THE thrash album - 100%

whensunburnsred, August 27th, 2010

Sacrifice’s Soldiers of Misfortune is possibly the best thrash album I’ve ever heard; relentless and flawless on every facet. It has all the elements a raw thrash metal album should have; aggressiveness, addictive headbangable riffs, a lot of energy, high doses of speed, skilful musicians and masterfully structured songs. This, of course, doesn’t mean that albums which lack some of these elements cannot be perfect, but not everybody is able to successfully mix them all and get such a result.

Those who are not familiar with Sacrifice’s work – or at least not with the present album – possibly will be wondering if I am serious about this one being the best thrash album. “What about the big four?”, “What about Lååz Rockit?” Overkill? Exodus? Razor? Kreator? Destruction? Coroner and so forth? Well, all those bands are a must for anybody who nearly enjoys the genre, and each one has made history in his own way – some more than others – getting recognition at least up to some degree. On the other hand, I feel that Sacrifice is still an underrated band, despite the excellent Forward to Termination and their pinnacle, Soldiers of Misfortune where they managed to merge the best elements from some of the bands mentioned before, and create an album (at least) as great as Annihilation Principle, Violent Restitution or The Years of Decay. After so much praise I guess I will have to present ironclad arguments to convince you that this is not just fanboyism, but this is an easy task with first class music.

After listening to the album, you will realize how all songs have a common atmosphere (even if all are different), sounding the same way some conceptual albums do - Seventh Son of a Seventh Son or The Crimson Idol come to mind as good examples – and some other that are not conceptual - Trapped! or Somewhere in Time - but still have a particular atmosphere which is not a common denominator in the rest of their repertoire. But even if these albums should give you an idea, the most relevant album to compare with (in this atmospheric sense) is Beneath the Remains. Sepultura’s finest hour makes you to endlessly bang your head, but every song has so many different riffs and these are put together so perfectly that sometimes you just don’t know when a new song has started, or simply it’s another phase of the current one. After the first two songs and up to the end this is something that happens in Soldiers of Misfortune, you will listen to it, riff after riff, and you won’t realize that the thing is coming to an end until the very end. So how is this constant atmosphere/sound I’m talking about? The best words to define it are fierce, frantic and crushing; it’s basically a steamroller with poisonous spikes (a shovel headed kill machine???). The atmosphere generally evokes harsh jungle war. Do you remember the beginning in the movie Windtalkers? First there’s Nicholas Cage in the jungle in the middle of a swamp full of reeds – the calm before the storm – and then the enemy ambush results in a crazy battle where you don’t know who you are shooting to. This is the same in here. The war sound Sodom has been mastering during their career is present in this album. The perfect example of this is the title track, which is chaotic and perfectly calculated at the same time. The song starts in a mid-paced rhythm with some acoustic like notes - just the bass and the guitar - held in the air, and then the drums come in with some leads, and some threatening vocals are added “Mine is not to reason why…”. At this point everything seems the same, but you know something big is coming, you can feel it. Then a new riff comes in with some crushing drumming – this is the steamroller I was talking about – and the chaos begins. By the time the solos come in you realize you’ve been 3 minutes headbanging non-stop.

The calculated part I mentioned before refers to the structures. Even if the chaos is present in some of the solos and riffs, the transition between them and the assembly of these is impeccably done. This is something I really enjoy and admire, because I realize it’s not something easy to do. Beneath the Remains is an album that managed to the very same thing with a darker atmosphere and deeper sound, but I prefer this one, that has more of a European and tearing sound. The latter brings me to my next point: Kreator and Coroner. These bands have some interesting elements in common and I can’t help thinking about them whenever I listen to this. For example the vocals remind me a lot to the excellent Terrible Certainty. The difference is Mille’s unique tone and gargling style, otherwise the threatening singing and the torn high-pitched vocals are very similar. The better production of Soldiers of Misfortune accentuates this difference as well; the sound has more depth than Terrible Certainty - although I read Sacrifice disliked it. There’s also an additional effect in Rob Urbinati’s vocals, which makes him sound a bit distant and even more threatening, so the result is perfect thrash vocals all along the album. Regarding Coroner, if you are familiar with the band, you are well aware that guitar work is the strength of the band. Well, some of the leads and solos remind me of the Swiss band; a good example is the solo in “Truth (After the rain)”. Even though don’t get this album thinking you are going to listen to something similar to R.I.P. or Punishment for Decadence, because this one is by no means intended to be mainly technical, but a mixture of pure aggression with some technical parts that conform a very refined representative of raw thrash metal.

The musicianship is top notch on every department. The drumming is definitely one of the most outstanding ones I’ve ever heard. Lombardo was outstanding in South of Heaven and Gene Hoglan was a destroyer of worlds in Dark Angel, but this guy is superhuman; precise as clock, incredibly intense and surprisingly technical. He can be just waiting in standby and explode in any moment or simply beat the drums from the beginning to the end at 100% intensity, making him a very versatile and competent drummer. Moreover the tone of the drums is perfect for this kind of raw thrash, and without a doubt, one of the pillars of this album. Good examples of this guy’s competence can be found in the title track – yes, it’s my favourite song (in case you are wondering) – where the rhythm change happens quite often and makes it a really difficult song to play. Even though, not only does he manage to play what any regular drummer would, but decorates every beat with some complex twist that will let you astonished. “As the world burns” is a perfect example of fast drumming with technical additions. In this case the main riff is crushing, headbangable and very catchy, and usually this would end in a song where everybody is driven by the violence of the riff and vocals, and even without noticing, we sometimes resign ourselves to standard drumming. In this song there’s no conformity, just drums that catch your attention and fascinate you as you never were before.

Analyzing the guitar work and its overall sound, I think it couldn’t have been better than it is. The tone of the leads is sharp and well defined; something close to Metallica’s Ride the Lightning. On the contrary, the rhythm guitars are the evil masters of low frequencies, sounding just a bit crunchy and establishing the foundations everything is built from. When you add both up, the resultant contrast is impressive; riffs and vocals create an ambient of despair, rage and angst, and then, all of the sudden, a very technical solo bursts in and amazes you how well it fits and how technical the band can get. Moving to the remaining instrument, the bass is not such an important element in this album. It’s more present at some points – most notably in the last track - but it doesn’t have such an important role – I don’t mean this as something negative at all. Even though it does its job doubling some of the riffs, so no complaints here.

The highlights basically include the whole album. There’s no weak or filler track; this is excellent thrash non-stop, there is only one midpaced track (”Lost through time”) and it’s unstoppable; with a heavy main riff that destroys anything in its way. I personally love the title track where everything is just brilliant; vocals sound fierce and menacing from the beginning to the end (”death always near, taking by fear ”); the chorus and the main riff are so catchy that they’ll get you from the very beginning, and the frantic rhythm changes with the brilliant drumming it’s the cherry on top of the cake. A special mention also goes for the last epic track ”Truth(After the rain)”, part sung, part instrumental. If you thought thrash wasn’t meant to have decent long tracks you really need to listen to this, and you possibly don’t like Master of Puppets and ...And Justice for All. The long instrumental parts are hypnotic and very catchy, and even if the main riff gets repeated quite often you don’t get tired of it, the same way it happens in ”Lost through time”. In addition, some of the leads will please all Slayer fans out there.

Soldiers of Misfortune was definitely a step forward for Sacrifice. They improved the work done in the already excellent Forward to Termination adding more class and writing songs in a more refined style (the latter was more of a straightforward uncontrolled violence ala Exumer). It’s also true that they also slowed down a bit, but the quality gained in the process makes it a winner deal.

In conclusion, this is an outstanding masterpiece that nobody should miss under any circumstance. There is neither minor fault nor weakness that discredits it, thus 100% score. If you liked this one you should try their previous work Forward to Termination and Kreator’s Terrible Certainty and Coma of Souls.

An everlasting classic! - 95%

overkill67, April 19th, 2004

This is pure adrenalized Canadian thrash metal in its purest form. I can't think of a better, more flawless album to come out of the Great White North...since this gem. We've got it all here, Chunking guitars with great lead work, not to mention some very emotional sounding guitar parts(yes emotional guitar parts on a Sacrifice album). The bass lines are really cool and the mix is great...yes you can hear the bass! The vocals are perfect for this album adding to the overall aggressive feel and angst driven testosterone sound of this Canuck classic band. Lastly, the drums...oh boy...Gus Pynn is one Fucking Amazing drummer, and thats to put things lightly. His double bass prowess is some of the best i've ever heard in my entire life (and for all you who read this and say to yourselves..."what about Raymond Herrera?"...well guess what?....this guy doesn't use TRIGGERS! He's the real deal...just an amazing fucking drummer with the ability to keep up with the likes of Gene Hoglan, Vinny Daze(RIP) and Tom Hunting. If you don't believe me, then check it out for yourself...this guy is killer!
The overall feel of this album is relentless...and is far superior to anything else that these guys have ever created. Being a very low budget independant album done for practically "chump change"...for the legendary Fringe Records...this album sounds pretty fuckin' good to be totally honest with you...this album is hard to top when refering to a true trash metal album...Any fan of the genre who has never heard this album really has to witness this for themselves...other wise, you cannot rest in peace!
-5% for being 2 songs 2 short!