The Sacrifice

George Tsalikis, the vocalist for the long-standing American power metal band Zandelle, has branched off from his main project and put out his first solo album, taking on all of the instrumental demands with the exception of percussion and lead guitar. The Sacrifice is a long and focused concept album telling the tale of a vampire and his victim and all the various fantastically fabricated moral dilemmas associated with it. In my experience, solo projects are hit-or-miss; sometimes you are tapping into a previously unknown vein of talent whilst other times you are hearing the efforts of somebody whose ideas just aren't good enough to stand on their own.

In this case, Tsalikis' project is quite different from Zandelle, although this album still has the same heavy/power vibe going on. The riffs and song structures are much simpler and don't appear to have much in the way of real creativity. The album as a whole offers little in the way of any interesting musical ideas. But in spite of this blandness, the album does have an epic feel to it. I particularly enjoyed the super crunchy guitar tone and the layering of the various guitars, which results in a sound strongly reminiscent of Liege Lord's Master Control. Two tracks in particular really captivated me precisely because they reminded me of that classic band and the oomph they put in their works. Both “Chapter 7: The Confrontation” and “Chapter 9: Victimized” feature outstanding opening riffs as well as engaging vocal melodies.

But aside from those two highlights, the only thing that I could find to latch onto was Tsalikis' voice, and he definitely has the pipes to make great heavy metal music. But his voice, as strong and powerful as it may be, is also the worst thing about this album. And the reason is that his voice is delivering some of the worst lyrics that I have ever heard.

Normally, I never discuss lyrics. The reasoning is simple: I believe that all music can and should be evaluated regardless of lyrical content. If the lyrics are good, that's a plus, but if the lyrics are vague or meaningless, I'm not any worse off if the music is enjoyable. And I'll be the first to admit that I'm the furthest thing from a poet there ever was, so I'm rarely going to criticise somebody else's songwriting abilities. But the lyrics on this album are so atrocious that they make enjoying the music nearly impossible. And that's a pretty serious feat.

I'm not sure it's really possible to understand the utter banality of these lyrics apart from a few examples, so consider these amazing gems:

Once I never thought
That I would ever find someone
To share my life with
But I did not care
I was fine on my own
Buried in my work
I had no time for any woman
And I had myself so occupied
I never felt alone

- “Chapter 2: Of My Dreams”

There is a friend
Maybe he could help
He knows much about such things
When we go to him and he tells me
How to end my suffering

- “Chapter 6: Declaration”

In what was supposed to be a dramatic section of the album, we find these masterfully crafted lines:

Finally I have made it home
I'm filled with anxiety
I'm wondering if I made it on time
Overwhelmed such unease
I rush in to find
She is there is his arms
Is that his on her neck
As he drinks her blood
I'm too late!

- “Chapter 5: Taken”

Now take those abominably plain lyrics and put them with an over-the-top wailing tenor voice and bombastic riffs and you might get a feel for how utterly incongruous the final result is. It's like hearing Pavarotti sing about dusting furniture. It doesn't help that the album is a narrative of some sort either, because there are entire sections of songs which are line-by-line descriptions of second-hand conversations. There are at least a half a dozen lines that contain some variation of the words, “And then I said to him”. I seriously can't think of a more pedestrian approach to songwriting.

There really is no limit to the number of examples I could give, but suffice to say that the album is completely devoid of any poetic quality. And it's so bad that time that could be spent reflecting on the music is jarringly interrupted by third-grade level dialogue. Tsalikis is obviously a very talented singer and a semi-competent composer, but his ideas – both musically and lyrically – do not stand well on their own. He does have a couple solid tracks here, but he doesn't have the consistency to put out a full-length album, let alone one that's nearly an hour long. He is better off sticking to projects where he can let his voice shine whilst the songwriting and composition are left to others more capable.

Originally written for The Metal Observer.