Review by Daniel for Sacrilege (GBR) - Within the Prophecy (1987)

The English thrash scene of the 1980’s was always a bit different to that of the more celebrated Americans & Germans. It was more about quality over quantity with far less options for consumers to choose from & perhaps this contributed to the comparative lack of fanfare that the Brits received. It’s hard to say but one thing’s for sure & that’s that Birmingham thrashers Sacrilege played a very important role in the development & subsequent growth of English thrash metal in the mid-to-late 80’s. They may not have been the very first UK thrash band. That honour would likely sit with Bristol’s Onslaught whose initial demo tapes saw the light of day way back in 1983 when Metallica & Slayer were only just beginning to make waves off the back of their classic debut albums. But 1984 would see Sacrilege taking their own tentative first steps out into the thrash wilderness & by the time 1985 rolled around we’d see a small English scene being formed with several debut albums being released in quick succession.

When you examine the early English forays into thrash-oriented realms, it’s hard to miss the important role that hardcore & crust punk played in the development of the local scene. Unlike the majority of their American counterparts, the early British thrash releases universally included a strong punk component, at times even being significant enough to compete on an equal footing with the metal one. Perhaps the strength of the local NWOBHM scene of the early-to-mid 80’s was responsible for keeping metalheads from jumping ship & heading over to thrashier waters but the punks seemed to be genuinely excited by the more aggressive & extreme sounds coming out of the early thrash scene. The 1985 debut albums from Onslaught, Sacrilege, Concrete Sox & English Dogs all show the outcome of punks exploring their newly found interest in metal.

Sacrilege began life as a crust punk band in Birmingham, England in 1984. Guitarist Damian Thompson & drummer Andrew Baker had played in d-beat bands Warwound & The Varukers together before Thompson had left to start Sacrilege with vocalist Lynda “Tam” Simpson, a move which saw his former band mate following shortly afterwards. The influence of the early US thrash scene would soon have a major impact on the band’s sound which saw even their earliest demo recordings catering to both audiences. By the time Sacrilege entered Rich Bitch studios in Birmingham to record their debut album “Behind The Realms Of Madness” in July 1985 they were very much a hybrid act. The album would be released through small independent Bristol label Children Of The Revolution Records & not only would it be the release that best signaled the coming of the English thrash metal assault but it also become a major historical landmark as one of the first releases to incorporate a combined crust punk & thrash metal sound. Sacrilege’s lyrical content showed clear signs of the band’s origins too as they took a much more politically charged approach than any thrash metal band had attempted previously which would be a major influence on the early UK grindcore scene. “Behind The Realms Of Madness” would be my first experience with Sacrilege back in the early 1990’s & I have to say that I found it to be more interesting than anything else. I found it very hard to categorize with the unusual production & regular stylistic jumps being initially a little off-putting with subsequent revisits seeing the album gaining more & more traction as I became accustomed to its unique quirks. These days, I perhaps don’t rate it quite as highly as many other thrash fans seem to but I certainly find it to be an enjoyable listen.

So this brings us to the topic of discussion in Sacrilege’s sophomore album “Within The Prophecy” which would be released through London-based label Under One Flag Records in 1987. Under One Flag were a subsidiary label of Music for Nations who had a very strong pedigree in quality metal stretching back to 1983 & by the time “Within The Prophecy” was released Under One Flag had already been responsible for releasing several noteworthy metal albums such as English Dogs “Where Legend Began”, Onslaught’s “The Force” & Possessed’s “Beyond The Gates”. Despite it’s unusual sound, Sacrilege’s new label must have been fairly happy with the result of the “Behind The Realms Of Madness” recording sessions because “Within The Prophecy” would once again be recorded at Rich Bitch Studios with Mike Ivory returning to share the production duties with the band. Bass player Tony May would not participate in the recording with guitarist Thompson handling the bass duties in his absence. Tony had always struggled with the pressures of the recording process & by that stage it had all simply gotten too much for him & he’d leave the band shortly afterwards.

As with the debut, the production job that resulted from the “Within The Prophecy” sessions would be a major talking point & would prove to be somewhat of a love-it-or-hate-it prospect for many fans. “Behind The Realms Of Madness” had commanded a similar response with it’s thick but somewhat muffled guitar tone gaining a cult following amongst underground metal & punk fans alike. It seems like the band had wanted to maintain that sound moving forwards as there are no signs of additional clarity being sought for the follow-up. On the contrary, “Within The Prophecy” offers an even more overwhelmingly filthy guitar tone that is thrust out to the front of the mix & reminds me very much of the early grindcore scene that was just around the corner. The distorted bass tone blends in with the wall of guitars while drummer Andy Baker struggles to compete on a sonic level with a booming snare drum sound being his main defensive weapon. It’s a very noisy sound to be honest, however it has a lot more life to it than the debut with the additional brightness contributing to the overall energy levels & the pure distortion only adding to Sacrilege’s metal credentials despite the lack of definition. In its defense, I don’t think the lack of clarity ever diminishes my ability to make out the riffs & it seems to have been a conscious decision to take more of a mid-tempo approach with this album in order to ensure that the band gained maximum impact from this guitar tone as faster material may have resulted in a messier outcome. The positive of this approach is that “Within The Prophecy” sounds much more extreme than it actually is. The guitar tone masks the simplicity of some of the riffs & it’s doubtful that they would have been as effective with a cleaner production. On the other side of the coin, this style of over-the-top production job does make the album sound a bit samey which can’t be said of its predecessor which included noticeably more stylistic variation. Underneath the noise is a band that clearly isn’t pushing the top tier bands but knows their sound & niche quite well & doesn’t stray outside of their creative comfort zone too much.

“Within The Prophecy” came with some very different cover art to the debut which sported the suitably dark & nasty image of a grim reaper type character stalking a graveyard. This time they went for a photograph of a woman standing by a couple of stone pillars which seem to mark an entrance of some sort & she is being greeted by a murder of crows. It’s a fairly drastic stylistic departure from the debut it has to be said & is nowhere near as effective in my opinion. The image seems far more appropriate for a gothic rock or darkwave release than a thrash metal one & is not done any favours by the colour scheme that’s been employed for both the band’s logo & the album title. The bubbly Sacrilege logo offers very little menace when presented in glistening pale blue & white while whoever opted to go with a purpley pink for the album title should surely have been sacked immediately.

After the initial shock of the production settled, the first thing that most fans noticed about “Within The Prophecy” was the reduction in the crust punk component of Sacrilege’s sound & this was the cause for some concern amongst the band’s more punk oriented fans. It’s a much more metal focused release than “Behind The Realms Of Madness” was although it tends to stick mainly with mid-paced tempos which isn’t something you’d usually associate with a thrash metal release. The record also offers hints at the doom metal sound the band would employ for 1989’s “Turn Back Trilobite” record & as such it marks somewhat of a transitional release for Sacrilege. In saying that though, I feel that the doom metal component of “Within The Prophecy” is generally overstated. Sure, Sacrilege is from Birmingham. But do we really hear all that much Black Sabbath in their sound? I don’t think Sabbath’s influence is as obvious as some reviewers seem to think. It’s more in the structure of some of the groovier down-tempo riffs which often provide a sneaky little hint at the groove metal sound that would be developed in the USA in the coming years.

I have to admit that I’ve always struggled with the idea of Sacrilege as a genuine thrash metal band &, even though “Within The Prophecy” was arguably their thrashiest release, it’s also a very good example of why. Sacrilege’s riffs are rarely something you’d immediately associate with thrash. They’re not often all that fast & rarely employ tremolo picking. In fact, if you really examine them you’ll often find that they’re closer to traditional heavy metal in structure however it’s the guitar tone that makes it almost impossible to make that association as the resulting rawness & atmosphere has a lot more in common with thrash & (in much the same way as the debut) represents the deciding vote in the genrificiation debate with thrash being the victor simply because it’s closer to the truth than the alternatives. I actually read someone referring to the sound of “Within The Prophecy” as “sludge-thrash” the other day & that’s not all that bad a description really. Although the crust punk component has been reduced, extreme metal fans will very easily be able to identify links to grindcore in the groovier mid-paced riffs, particularly during the B-side. It’s really very clear that Sacrilege was a major influence on the early grindcore movement which shouldn’t be all that surprising when you consider the links to early grindcore exponents Unseen Terror through former Sacrilege guitarist Mitch Dickinson (Unseen Terror also including future Napalm Death member Shane Embury). Upon revisiting the album for the first time in years this week, I was actually surprised at just how many riffs reminded me of Terrorizer & Napalm Death.

There are a couple of really cool little keyboard intros & interludes included which definitely add to the atmosphere & the track durations are quite lengthy for a thrash release with just the seven tracks including the epic eleven minute closer “Search Eternal” which beautifully sums up the various elements at play across the previous six songs. It’s interesting that the band have opted not to go with traditional song structures with very few (if any) of these tracks utilizing choruses & I feel that this has contributed to the saminess I mentioned earlier. The faster material at the start of the A-side has a noticeable Dark Angel vibe to it with the lengthy introduction to the opening track “Sight Of The Wise” positively reeking of Slayer’s “Hell Awaits”. In fact, that song is a total trash-fest which probably goes a long way to firming up the album’s thrash credentials. There’s not a trace of punk or doom about the early stages of the record in all honesty. Those elements become far more prevalent as the record progresses.

The musicianship on display is generally pretty basic but is clearly not intended to be a focal point. The use of guitar harmonies is a real strength as they provide a pleasant contrast to the over-the-top rhythm guitar tone & add to the overall atmosphere. I wouldn’t say that Thompson is a particularly talented lead guitarist as his solos are fairly generic but he certainly has a knack for melody when he puts his mind to it. His rhythm playing is pretty sloppy for the most part but this is not really a significant hinderance due to it being partially disguised by the noisy production & also the inherent crust punk street cred that is attached to the band. The drumming of Andy Baker is the clear weakness of the album in my opinion though. A lot of his beats incorporate a swing that may owe a lot to Black Sabbath’s Bill Ward but are often quite bouncy at the same time. Although that may sound good on paper & is certainly a differentiator of sorts, in reality it takes away from the intensity of the music at times & limits the album’s potential to an extent.

As with any female-fronted metal band, Tam’s vocal performance tends to receive a lot more attention than it might otherwise have drawn. In actual fact, her vocal contributions are kept a little bit more minimal than you’ll generally be accustomed to with thrash bands & (perhaps surprisingly) I don’t tend to think of her as one of the more important elements of the album, at least not from a purely sonic point of view. The debut saw her going with an aggressive & punky delivery that offered a little more extremity than we get here where she’s presented in a cleaner fashion. There’s more femininity about her performance here & I wouldn’t say that it’s overly aggressive. She doesn’t exactly “sing” & her limitations are more obvious than they were on the debut as she’s definitely a little more exposed but she does a reasonable job without ever taking the reins as the focal point of the band. She’s definitely a point of difference but Sacrilege tends to rely on the production to give them their x-factor rather than the riffs which aren’t exactly a drawcard when viewed in isolation.

When you take a look at “Within The Prophecy” holistically, my last statement sums up the record pretty well actually. None of the elements of Sacrilege’s sound are taken from the top tier of the thrash metal spectrum however the sum of their parts amounts to significantly more than the individual elements might suggest. One of Sacrilege’s most important attributes is that they know what they do well & make every effort to gain maximum value out of those key components so it’s very hard to be critical. On the contrary, I actually find myself feeling an attraction to “Within The Prophecy” that defies much of the content of my review thus far. There’s a quality to the song-writing that seems to thumb its nose at the lack of vocal hooks & general variation & I never find myself losing engagement. Despite what some critics may think, I find that there’s something to be said for bands that have their own sound & focus purely on what they do well without ever stepping too far outside their comfort zones & the overall consistency of the tracklisting here is testament that this approach works. So much so that I can’t help but rate “Within The Prophecy” ahead of its more highly regarded older sibling. It’s definitely more in line with my personal taste given the reduced punk component which was always going to be an advantage but I think that its more focused approach has had a positive impact on the appeal it offers me too. Overall, it’s a very strong release that’s often overlooked in favour of “Behind The Realms Of Madness” however I think that most thrash fans will enjoy it, regardless of which side of the genre tag debate you might fall on. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that “Within The Prophecy” is my favourite English thrash release to the time.

For fans of: Détente, Onslaught & English Dogs