{"id":20307,"date":"2012-05-31T15:39:26","date_gmt":"2012-05-31T20:39:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=20307"},"modified":"2013-02-05T16:01:04","modified_gmt":"2013-02-05T21:01:04","slug":"sacred-heart-the-vision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2012\/sacred-heart-the-vision\/","title":{"rendered":"Sacred Heart | The Vision<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines<\/span>
\nStaff Writer —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"The Pure Steel Records\u2019 Pure Underground division reached deep into the metal vault to find this lost gem. Sacred Heart was a Cleveland-area heavy metal band active for a brief period of time as the 1980s gave way to the \u201890s. The band, which featured hotshot guitarist Byron Nemeth, released just one demo, the three-song The Vision<\/em>, in 1989. After all these years, Pure Underground has brought these long lost Sacred Heart<\/em> recordings \u2013 plus a few additional surprises \u2013 back to light with their deluxe reissue of The Vision<\/em>.<\/p>\n

This edition of The Vision<\/em> contains not only a newly remastered version of the original three songs from the original demo, but the song \u201cTime After Time,\u201d which originally appeared on Auburn Records\u2019 Heavy Artillery<\/em> sampler in 1991, as well as the previously unreleased song \u201cTake Hold.\u201d That\u2019s five vintage Sacred Heart<\/em> recordings total. The rest of The Vision consists of a six-song 2010 EP by the Byron Nemeth Group.<\/p>\n

The Sacred Heart<\/em> songs are about what you\u2019d expect from an American heavy metal band with that particular name. They\u2019re traditional, Dio and Maiden-inspired American power metal songs with an epic, dramatic flair, some nice melodies and high-pitched (if a bit thin) vocals. Stylistically, it\u2019s similar to bands like Fifth Angel and early Drive. The later Byron Nemeth Group material is quite a bit different. It\u2019s more keyboard-oriented progressive metal with lots of technicality and a vocalist who is much more powerful, if not quite so distinctive. It\u2019s kind of a weird juxtaposition, actually. The later songs are probably better overall in terms of songwriting and production, but they really don\u2019t seem to go with the original Sacred Heart<\/em> material at all. The Vision<\/em> might have been more effective without them as a simple EP release.<\/p>\n

Obviously a reissue like The Vision is aimed at serious collectors of forgotten \u201880s era heavy metal, and if you fall into that category, chances are you\u2019ll find this Sacred Heart<\/em> collection worthwhile. The band doesn\u2019t really make the jump from \u201csolid\u201d to \u201csomething really special\u201d territory, but it\u2019s always good to see these old relics dusted off so that collectors who missed them the first time around can finally hear these lost metal releases.<\/p>\n

Genre: Heavy Metal, Traditional Metal<\/p>\n

Band:
\nByron Nemeth (g)
\nEd Edwards (b)
\nBrian McIntyre (d)
\nKeith Van Tassel (v, tracks 1-5)
\nRay Richter (v, tracks, 6-10)
\nMark Herholtz (g)<\/p>\n

Track Listing:
\n1.\tWe\u2019ll Hold On Till Tomorrow
\n2.\tNew Order
\n3.\tThe Vision
\n4.\tTime After Time
\n5.\tTake Hold
\n6.\tDemon\u2019s Wing
\n7.\tSelfish
\n8.\tThe Game
\n9.\tDreamcatcher
\n10.\tWhat\u2019s Done Is Done
\n11.\tSlip of the Tongue<\/p>\n

Label: Pure Steel, Pure Underground<\/p>\n

Website: http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SacredHeart2012<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: 7\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines Staff Writer — The Pure Steel Records\u2019 Pure Underground division reached deep into the metal vault to find this lost gem. Sacred Heart was a Cleveland-area heavy metal band active for a […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6772],"tags":[2491,2791,2470,3605],"class_list":{"0":"post-20307","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-arcrvws2012","7":"tag-heavy-metal","8":"tag-pure-steel","9":"tag-sacred-heart","10":"tag-traditional-metal"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20307\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}