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Sacred Steel

Hammer Of Destruction

Written by: PP on 08/12/2006 15:52:16

"Where demons dare to tread, HEAVY METAL LIVES!" chants frontman Gerrit P. Mutz on Sacred Steel's sixth studio album "Hammer Of Destruction"'s title track, and he is right. You'd be searching long for a more manly, more old school heavy metal album in 2006 than "Hammer Of Destruction", featuring old school thunderous guitar assaults, trend-free vocal chants and shouts all in clean form - a return to the roots of heavy metal in the 80s when bands like Kreator, Helloween and Judas Priest were worshipped by the underground music generation compared to today's emo/metalcore obsessed youth. Bring on that black leather, spiked belts and jewelry, heavy metal is back in a modernized form.

The best part about "Hammer Of Destruction" is that although it's oldschool influences are obvious, it doesn't sound out of date at all, perhaps reminding us all that metal too can be done without screams and guitar gimmicks a la Dragonforce and sound good at the same time. Songs like the appropriately titled "Maniacs Of Speed" rush past you screaming HEAVY METAL at you with their highly-amplified, distortion filled riffs and honest, intricate solos underlining the unnecessity of guitar gimmicks a la Trivium.

And like in all traditional heavy metal albums, the visuals and images are very much a part of "Hammer Of Destruction". Just taking a quick glimpse of the artwork featuring a fantasy-inspired monster swinging a giant axe immediately paints pictures of glorious battlegrounds in your mind when listening to any given track on the album. And as if to reiterate their vow to heavy metal, the band has included a passage of a speech from some anti-metal group advocating banning heavy metal t-shirts in schools on "Impaled By Metal", before responding to it with viscious riffage to let the spokeswoman know heavy metal isn't going anywhere no matter how hard she tires to "de-metalize" the youth.

There aren't any surprises on "Hammer Of Destruction", which is probably to the liking of anyone whose wardrobe includes mainly leather-based outfits, and it holds the album together tightly and makes it sound strangely revelant even today. Oh, did I mention this album was heavy metal yet? Good, I'll just repeat myself once more: HEAVY FUCKING METAL!!

Download: Hammer Of Destruction, Maniacs Of Speed
For the fans of: Judas Priest, Virgin Steele, Metal Church, Destruction, Kreator
Listen: Myspace

Release date 10.11.2006
Massacre Records
Provided by Gordeon Music