Review by Daniel for Nothing Sacred - Deathwish (1985)

Sometimes even the most committed of metal historians can have their opinions influenced by circumstances if they're not careful. A preconceived notion of what you should expect from a release can often play a role in how you'll react to a record upon the first listen or two & that's why it's really important to give music at least a few listens before making a judgement on its value. I've rarely seen a better example of that than with the 1985 debut E.P. from Melbourne five-piece Nothing Sacred, a release that I've generally despised over the many decades since I first heard it as a youngster. It's only recently that I listened to it with fresh ears & realised that I'd been WWAAAYYY too harsh on it. The only explanation I can come up with is that I was put off by the release's having been consistently linked to thrash metal when, in reality, there's almost no sign of that genre to be found amongst the four songs included here. When I finally managed to tackle "Deathwish" with unbiased ears I discovered that it's actually not a bad heavy/power metal record though, & one that deserves to be heard too.

Nothing Sacred had been around for a couple of years by the time "Deathwish" was recorded & had built up a significant live following in their home city too. Their only demo recording had come in the form of a live demo that showcased an entire set from a show that sounds like it was a headline gig given the engagement levels of the audience who seem to be well across the band's usual setlist. That demo included a number of cover versions from bands like Metallica, Judas Priest, Savatage & Motorhead as well as a series of well-constructed originals that compare fairly well with the covers for the most part & I quite enjoyed the release overall, despite a few flatter numbers & a questionable vocal performance. The instrumental capabilities of Nothing Sacred were clearly pretty well developed even at that early stage & that comes across very clearly on "Live", despite the dodgy recording quality.

Given the pre-internet release dates of "Live" & "Deathwish", it's actually not that easy to place them into a Nothing Sacred timeline. Both seem to be listed as 1985 releases & I've seen an interview where the band state that "Deathwish" was recorded in 1984 & released the following year. I get the distinct impression that the E.P. hadn't been released at the time of the live recording though as front man Mick Burnham never mentions it when announcing the couple of tracks that were taken from "Deathwish". I also consider it to be a little strange that Nothing Sacred didn't play half of the E.P. that night, instead resorting to several weaker numbers. That leaves me wondering whether "Live" was actually recorded in early 1984 or whether the band are telling porkies about "Deathwish" being recorded in 1984 but I guess it really doesn't matter all that much. What does matter is that Nothing Sacred have produced a pretty good first up studio effort here & one that I've misjudged for most of my life.

The four songs included on "Deathwish" clock in at just under twenty minutes with not a second being wasted. The production is fairly basic as you'd expect from an underground Australian release from the mid-1980's but it's certainly acceptable & allows the song-writing to showcase its wares well enough. The performance of the band is once again very good & you can easily tell that Nothing Sacred have played their fair share of Iron Maiden cover versions over the previous couple of years. I'm particularly impressed by the way Mark Woolley (Hobbs Angel of Death) & Richard Snape incorporate their lead guitar work into the song structures because it highlights a clear understanding of the role that melody plays in the way a song can build & release tension. The rhythm section of bassist Karl Lean (Hobbs Angel of Death) & drummer Sham Littleman (Depression) are rock-solid too & prove they're no slouches when they get the opportunity to throw themselves into an energetic Maiden gallop or a tremolo-picked speed metal riff. Burnham's vocals still aren't perfect & he's certainly not one of the more capable heavy metal front men on the international scene but he delivers a much better performance than we heard from him on the live demo & I found myself getting used to him fairly quickly, despite the occasional pitchy moment.

It's hard to deny that my feelings on Nothing Sacred's links to thrash metal were warranted because there's fuck all here. I've seen the band stating as much over the years too so it's not surprising that the young teenage thrasher I was when I first experienced "Deathwish" struggled a little with it from a stylistic perspective. Now that I've accepted Nothing Sacred for what they are though, I've found them to be really pretty easy to stomach. The live demo was mainly a heavy metal release although there were a few speed & power metal number chucked in there as well as the obvious thrash cover in Metallica's "The Four Horsemen". Here we see Nothing Sacred starting to emphasize the epic side of their sound a little more which places "Deathwish" somewhere between Iron Maiden's NWOBHM sound & the more muscular & epic US power metal one. The two songs that are shared with the live demo were obviously some of the more power metal inclined inclusions on that release so I guess "Deathwish" was always gonna feel a little more power metal oriented & I think that's a good thing because I've enjoyed that aspect of the record.

Despite my earlier struggles with the release in general, the tracklisting is actually very consistent with all four songs being worthy of your attention. The more atmospheric number "Old Man" is possibly the weaker of the four as it's chorus hook is a little flat but it still manages to bring enough to the table to keep me interested. The clear highlight is closer "The Curse" which is also the most clear-cut power metal tune with Burnham's lyrics traversing the typical fantasy topics the genre is known for. "No Rest" & the infamous title track are also pretty good though & you can see why the band had built up such a strong local following because they compete well with their international competition as far as professionalism goes.

After this experience, I'm gonna have to apologise to Nothing Sacred. I hate to admit it but I've allowed my own preconceived biases to impact my affection for what was actually a pretty important release for my home country's local metal scene & I'm a little ashamed of it too as I pride myself on my ability to separate myself from that rubbish. Oh well... better late than never I suppose. Despite the fact that "Deathwish" has no right to be referenced as an early Aussie thrash record, it's a pretty reasonable heavy/power metal release that will very likely offer some appeal to most of our The Guardians members so if that's you then I'd encourage you to check it out.

For fans of Iron Maiden, Prowler & Iron Angel.