Sacred Steel is a musical style and African-American gospel tradition that developed in House of God churches in the 1930's. This is one of the things you can find on Wikipedia, the other of course is: "German Heavy Metal Band". I don't know if the name has anything to do with the first, quite clear however is that the lyrics on this new album are not what you would call gospel. In several songs the church and Christianity are subjects, but not in a way Stryper would have done.
First song "Charge Into Overkill" is a very fast, aggressive and driven track. Gerrit Mutz vocals are still a 'you either love them or hate them' issue. I must say that I didn't like them when I listened to their debut album 'Reborn in Steel' back in 1997. But I think you can get used to everything, because it just sticks to their music and it makes Sacred Steel what they are nowadays. "Slaughter Prophecy" their 2002 album has been my favourite SS album. I'm still not quite sure if this one will take it's place. At this moment I don't think so, but perhaps it will grow, and you will get a different answer within a few weeks.
Tracks like ”Broken Rites” - about a catholic paedophile, ”The Skeleton Key” and ”Denial of Judas” (my favourite track) are first class and Gerrit do not mince matters and in a lot of songs he really kicks ass. The occasional grunts see to it that some songs sound just a little bit heavier. Musically there is nothing wrong with this new album either, decent speed/power metal tracks with nice riffs and good songs. Only "Ceremonial Magician of the left H" is a rather slow, even doomy track, but for the variation this is a very welcome.
Die-hard fans and speed-metal fans don't have to hesitate, check it out!
