(This is Wil Cifer‘s review of a new album by the ’80s-era Canadian thrash metal band Sacrifice, their first one in 16 years and with their original lineup intact. It will be released on February 21st by Cursed Blessings Records.)

Thrash is a metal subgenre perhaps most shackled to a golden era that reached its peak in 1990 with albums like Seasons in the Abyss and Rust in Peace. Death metal gained prominence and bands either doubled down and got heavier to keep up or veered off to follow the ’90s alternative sound. The Canadian thrash band Sacrifice has been kicking it since the ’80s but never caught on to gain the cult status of a band like Voivod. They have however changed with the times on for their 6th album, which finds them sharing sonic ground with bands like Power Trip, who blended hardcore sounds with the thrash of the past.

If you were to listen back to the 1986 album Torment in Fire, while it captures the energy of that time, the guitar tones are a little dated, so the current production value plays to their benefit and breathes new life into what they do. This band is not jumping on a bandwagon to be relevant, but staying true to what they do while packing a suitable song punch, rather than digging up their pedal board from the ’80s to cash in on nostalgia for 1986. Continue reading »