Sacrilege (GBR) - Behind the Realms of Madness (1985) Reviews
As the thrash metal scene continued to grow in the mid-80s, there were other bands who were planting the seeds for other metal genres to be formed. There has been the US power/speed metal of Metal Church, the first-wave black metal of Bathory, and the proto-death metal of Possessed, all of whom are so different and can't be mistaken for one another. Another different style is the crossover between thrash and crust punk known as stenchcore. Filled with political angst, one of the founding bands of the genre (besides Amebix), Sacrilege severed the border between hardcore and thrash in a darker sound with their debut Behind the Realms of Madness!
To level up their uniqueness, the band has front-woman Lynda "Tam" Simpson doing some of the grittiest female vocals since Joan Jett, though Tam can't keep compete with other crossover thrash vocalists out there. Despite that, the vocals add to the well-executed dirty vibe of thrash. There are some songs that actually foreshadow the sound Destruction would have in Eternal Devastation next year, albeit in a more punky fashion.
"Lifeline" shows the band unleashing their wall-breaking sound that can scream both Discharge and Slayer. Next up, "Shadow from Mordor" has a more sludgy intro, with terrific soloing to add to the greatness. "At Death's Door" is a little mediocre in the riffing, and draggy even during the headbanging riffs.
The hyperspeed of "A Violation of Something Sacred" brings back the album's quality in the guitar with the hardcore of Discharge, the speed of Motorhead, and the thrash of Destruction, all combined into one. The thick riffing with driving punches in "The Closing Irony" might remind some more of Anthrax, Metallica, and Tankard, closer to metal territory than punk. One last anthem, "Out of Sight, Out of Mind" is fast with more meat in the riffing.
In the end, Behind the Realms of Madness can be considered an underrated classic. The lack of attention is mind-boggling, though it's understandable due to the UK stenchcore scene being nowhere near as prominent as the US thrash scene. Nonetheless, Amebix and Sacrilege are known as the king and queen (in terms of vocalists), respectively, of the genre. And somehow, Napalm Death would take their own crust punk roots into a more popular (and more painful for me) genre grindcore. For those looking for a band mixing the sounds of D.R.I. and Tankard, look out for Sacrilege. I'm quite amazed to find this stenchcore sound that really kicks a**!
Favorites: "Shadow from Mordor", "A Violation of Something Sacred", "Out of Sight, Out of Mind"
Neck-breaking, full-on thrashing, punky, metal madness that has the kind of energy the majority of thrash bands could only ever hope to possess. Pity they were never this good again, but, hell, to make one record this awesome is more than most manage.
As an aside, I don't know if Kurt Cobain ever heard this album, but Shadow of Mordor sounds exactly like Nirvana's Negative Creep... just saying!