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Bitter Lake Recordings

Sacrifice -Total Steel

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£27.00 GBP
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£27.00 GBP
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Sacrifice - Total Steel 2xLP (BLR-013)

Driven by vocalist and bandleader Akira, Japanese thrash metal legends Sacrifice formed in 1985 in Tokyo. The band released their debut full-length Crest Of Black on Explosion Records in 1987, an album that would go on to become their most iconic and which stands as a cult classic of Japanese metal.

Unsurprisingly, that release is the lone document of the band that seems to have been discovered by fans of extreme music outside of Japanese metal circles. Perhaps this was because the band’s subsequent albums, 1990’s Total Steel and 1992’s Tears, were released by Howling Bull exclusively on compact disc, a format that has sadly lost prestige with time.

Long remaining a pillar of the Japanese underground metal world, Sacrifice stayed true to their old school heavy metal sound, never falling prey to some of the more questionable trends that many other classic 80’s Japanese thrash bands partook in as they stumbled their way into the 90’s.

Instead, Total Steel saw the band continue to hone their rough, pounding brand of classic thrash metal. The raw, evil sound of Crest Of Black found the band being compared to classic heavy metal acts like Venom, but Total Steel sees the newer lineup of Sacrifice tighter and more musically proficient than ever and, with their jump from the cult Explosion to the bigger Howling Bull, a noticeable improvement in production values.

Coinciding with Sacrifice’s first US appearance in Brooklyn, NY on January 10th and 11th, 2020, we here at Bitter Lake Recordings are proud to present the much-needed, first-ever vinyl issue of this album, lovingly pressed as a 45rpm double album to maximize sound and preserve the integrity of the original compact disc.