Sacrifice (CAN) - Soldiers of Misfortune (1991)^{Release ID: 4036}

My relationship with Canadian thrash metal outfit Sacrifice began in very strong fashion when I discovered their 1987 "Forward to Termination" back in the late 80's/early 90's & I quickly headed back to their 1986 debut album "Torment in Fire" which I also loved. Both possessed an excitingly raw & energetic brand of thrash that offered significant appeal for me when I was still very much in the middle of my thrash metal heyday. 1990's "Soldiers of Misfortune" third album wasn't quite as successful in its quest to embed itself into regular rotation on my early 90's playlist though for one reason or another. It's certainly a professionally produced & executed thrash record but it sounds a little less exciting than its predecessors, perhaps losing some of its steam in the quest for a more mature & refined sound. I still love the snarly vocals of front man Rob Urbinati but there a quite a few chuggy riffs that I consider to be a little bit flat & indicating that there may not have been enough time put into quality control with "Soldiers of Misfortune". The best tracks are when the band simply go for it like they do on the classic album highlight "A Storm In The Silence" but those moments are simply too scarce with the bulk of the record feeling decent & acceptable more than it does invigorating. The lengthy progressive metal piece that closes out the album "Truth (After the Rain)" is a prime example as there are plenty of ideas there but it doesn't a result in a truly compelling experience in my opinion. Don't get me wrong, I do quite like "Soldiers of Misfortune" with only the lacklustre heavy metal number "Existence Within Eternity" failing to hit a par score but I do find the album to be a little disappointing after receiving such joy from Sacrifice's first two efforts.

Canada’s Sacrifice go down in my history books at least for their fantastic 1987 album Forward to Termination, an album first alerted to me as being an “underrated classic” of the thrash metal genre.  Follow up album Soldiers of Misfortune follows pretty much the same format of intense and energetic thrash metal with a rabid vocal style that appeals so much to my love of the more extreme sound of the genre.

Unlike it predecessor though, Soldiers of Misfortune doesn’t ever reach the epic proportions of excitement that got me all in a lather when I first heard it.  Instead it seems to follow the same tried and tested formula on nearly all of the songs, occasionally dropping to more mid-tempo based structure every now and again.  That withstanding, even for an album of relatively short length (8 tracks) it feels longer and a bit repetitive.

Let’s not take away from the fantastic musicianship on show though.  As a stand-alone thrash metal record, anyone hearing this without knowledge of the band would be very entertained by the slick leads and chugging rhythms of this album.  Those nasal and nefarious vocals are the icing on the cake as well.  For most thrash metal fans discovering new albums this would be a very neat find.  The 3 stars reflect the place  this album inhabits in the discography if anything.