Sacred Oath Sacred Oath
by Justin Gaines
Staff Writer
2009’s self-titled album is just the third studio album in 20 years from Connecticut-based metal band Sacred Oath. The band’s lengthy absence from the metal scene was due to the usual suspects – lineup changes, label issues, changing musical climates – but founding member/vocalist/guitarist/songwriter/producer Rob Thorne seems determined to make Sacred Oath last, and to his credit this album may help the band do just that.
Sacred Oath always felt like the Queensryche that might have been had that band opted for more “Queen of the Reich” and less “Silent Lucidity”. Well, Queensryche’s days as a heavy metal band are long behind them, and Sacred Oath has moved on to a fiercer, more focused metal sound. Thorne’s vocals still sound eerily like Geoff Tate’s, but that’s where the Queensryche similarities end this time around. With this album, Sacred Oath brings to mind the great post-power, pre-thrash metal acts from the late ’80s – Vicious Rumors, Armored Saint and Helstar. You have thrashing guitar riffs, soaring vocals, a merciless beat, and snarling, pissed-off lyrics. If you think song titles like “Wings of Salvation,” “Scourge of Sin” and “Hunt for the Fallen Angel” mean that Sacred Oath has turned religious, think again. Nearly every song on this album is a seething indictment of organized religion and blind faith.
With its blend of traditional, power and thrash metal elements, Sacred Oath has a classic heavy metal sound, but at the same time feels completely current and relevant. Sacred Oath has successfully brought their brand of heavy metal into the new century, and in the process has created an album that should appeal to old fans and newcomers alike.
Label: Angel Thorne Music
Track Listing:
1. Paradise Lost
2. Blood Storm
3. Buried Alive
4. Voodoo Dolls
5. Counting Zeroes
6. Caught in the Arc
7. Mistress of the Setting Sun
8. High and Mighty
9. Wings of Salvation
10. Order of the System Lords
11. Sacred Oath
12. What the Dark Will Undo
13. Scourge of Sin
14. Hunt for the Fallen Angel
Online: www.sacredoath.net
HRH Rating: 7.5/10