voila_la_scorie OK. I’m going to forget about hitting the shower right away and getting off to bed before midnight or staying up with Excel to total up the week’s receipts and withdrawals. I’m putting that all to the side to tell you that I love this album. I just have to tell you that.

I got this a couple of weeks ago and listened to it and loved it. Then I listened to some classic Slayer and Megadeth and listened to this again and I loved it. Then I made a mixed playlist with a variety of stuff on it, including two songs from this album, and when they came on I was reminded once again that I love this album.

I was a fan of thrash metal back in the heyday of the mid-eighties. I had the first three Metallica albums, a couple of Slayer albums, Megadeth, Exodus, Anthrax, Kreator, Destruction, Voivod, Nuclear Assault, Razor, and a number of others. And I had the debut album, “Torment in Fire” by Sacrifice. But since the late eighties, I haven’t listened to much new thrash and for a long time I only listened to the classic stuff when I was in the mood. But recently I’ve been checking out some old favourites and adding some albums to my collection as well as looking into a new band or two, and I picked up Sacrifice’s third album “Soldiers of Misfortune” which I reviewed here a couple of months back. For that album, I said that Sacrifice sounded like a blend of Slayer and Nuclear Assault. Now they don’t sound like either. They sound like Sacrifice. They sound like thrash metal!

As with any thrash band, Sacrifice went through some changes as they matured and like pretty much all thrash bands, the nineties were a tough time for them. By 1993 and four albums, they called it quits. However, like a lot of bands these days, they got back together again (2006) and released an album – this absolute gem – in 2009.

And this is a thrash metal album. What do you want? Coarse, guttural, ultra-angry and tough vocals? Rob Urbinati’s voice has become lower and gruffer than it was during their classic run. Speedy riffs and fast-paced drumming? No problem. But you’d like some tempo changes and slower, awesome riffs? They’re there. How about shredding solos, whammy bar wails, and some tricky pick slide techniques? Knock yourself out! Do you want classical acoustic guitar interludes and slower almost mainstream metal ballads? Get lost! They’re not here. This album just thrashes through from start to finish and very heavily at that with just the right amount of invective and acerbity. There’s just a bit of clean guitar in the final track, “Desolation Alive” which works just fine as the track is over 7 minutes long. Sacrifice already proved on “Soldiers of Misfortune” that a thrash band can do longer songs without turning into progressive metal.

Look. You want an album that sums up thrash metal? Sure, there are probably many you can list. This one is among the top albums on my list. It’s just quality thrash metal with a great production from one end to the other. Oh, you who are better acquainted with the modern thrash scene may not be as excited as I am about this album. But this is my opinion and I’m sticking to it. This is an excellent thrash metal album!

Time for a shower now!

voila_la_scorie "Soldiers of Misfortune" is the third studio release by Canadian thrash band, Sacrifice. Their previous album "Forward to Termination" had begun turning heads and the band looked forward to even larger success with this one. Although at least one member claimed that the sound quality was not as good as FTT, the reissue that I have, a double disc featuring metric tonnes of live material, sounds great.

Sacrifice probably sound closest to Slayer crossed with Nuclear Assault with the latter similarity showing up most notably in the vocals.

As a thrash album, there's a lot to be anticipated. Of course speedy riffs, coarse screamed vocals, double-bass pummeling, and so on. But one of the things I love about thrash metal are the mid-song tempo changes, slowing down to heavy ponderous riffs or starting up a song slow and ominously and then going into quadruple time. This album has plenty of that meaning there's good contrast between songs. Catch the excellent thrashing opener "As the World Burns" which is contrasted by the forbidding intro to the title track, which is not unlike Metallica's "Thing that Should Not Be". This is followed by an intense thrash attack with "In Defiance".

The album continues with song after song of powerful thrash metal. You can just see the heads banging and long hair flying! Though I had the debut on cassette when it first came out, I no longer remember it. It does seem to me that Sacrifice have added more complex song arrangements, particularly in the riff/rhythm and tempo changes within songs. It makes this album unpredictable in that you never know if the song is going to speed up or slow down or come to an abrupt halt and suddenly burst into high gear, or drop some monster riff swiftly into your backside. Listening to it now, it's sweetness to my ears. A great thrash metal album!

The album concludes with the 10:16 track "Truth (After the Rain)". This monumental (for thrash) undertaking is surprisingly (or not, given what I have observed of the band so far) well-accomplished. A journey of slow heavy riffs, speedier parts, galloping solos, and everything else you've heard so far, "Truth" keeps the listener attentive. There's even a clean guitar break with a bass fill before more heavy riffs pile up. The ending is completely unpredictable.

The special double disc edition fills up the rest of the album disc with live performances and one studio outtake and disc two is all live. I don't really care for all this bonus material. Do we want to hear "As the World Burns" three or four times in crappy live at the club sound? Answer that yourself. The only plus is that you can hear a couple of songs from other albums performed live in a crappy sound.

Barring the bonus material, this is a great studio album of thrash metal.