Independent

I bought the album reviewed here together with Nuclear Assault’s “Something Wicked”… it was much later that I found out the two slabs were released on the same day (February 23rd, 1993). I was attracted by the clown displayed on the Nuclears’ cassette cover as it was put on the shop window, but later I spotted the Sacred Reich tape humbly placed on one of the shelves inside. It was March 8th, Women’s Day, and I was looking for presents, naturally; so I bought both cassettes, one for my mother, and one for my girlfriend… ha ha, kidding you here, of course! My mother was never fond of the US side of the good old thrash, and my girlfriend at the time was a sombre brooding but impossibly sexy goth who, for reasons still not very clear to me, had developed this strong dislike towards all extreme forms of metal (thrash, death, black).

Nope, the reason for buying those two was because I wanted to cover myself from top to bottom with ravishing old school thrash tunes… cause this is what was supposed to flow out of those, right? I liked both acts, but was never a big fan of either, as my expectations for the Nuclear Assault effort were small since I didn’t like their previous outing “No World Order” very much. However, for this independent outing here I had no doubts whatsoever, that it would rock my household big time that is, following on the seismic success of the intimidating steam-rolling wonder “The American Way”, an opus I loved to bits back then (and still do). A few hours later the situation was the exact opposite: the yellow-toothed clown contained the much better music, whereas the album reviewed here…

just to think of the number of albums (Kreator, Coroner, Overkill, Exodus, Forbidden, etc.) I blindly purchased in the early-90’s, firmly believing that those couldn’t possibly be too remote from these acts’ initially chosen credo… certainly, I had long since realized that the classic thrash ship had sailed, or had wrecked somewhere in the groovy sea, but I kept hoping for glimpses of it in the oeuvre of those still-standing veterans. At least in the case here one had fewer doubts in the band’s next move as “The American Way” was suitably confrontational and aggro, already displaying motifs and nuances on which the entire groovy/post-thrash legion built its repertoire later. What it should have taken was a slight twist in order to make the guys the leaders of said legion… with a classic, also classy, thrashy twist the latter be it a mere guiding light or (preferably) a dominant leitmotif.

Instead, this effort turned out another expectations-defier, and not in a good way at all. Lads lads... why did you have to become independent… if nothing else, the title-track stirs some light pogo at the beginning with its frivolous speedy rhythms, but from then onward it’s entirely up to the audience to decide how it wants to react to the rest which still holds some hardcore-ish vigour on “Free”, but mortifying such dynamic occurrences won't be hard at all, with lethargic friendly strollers like “Just Like That” and tender romantic instrumentals like “If Only” freely provided, upon request and not only, with “Crawling” going heavy on the grooves despite its more vivacious bouncy nature. The short bursting “Pressure” may even be considered the highlight, later mirrored to an extent by the closing “Do It”, but even these brief gusts of energy’s thrashy merits are debatable at best, clinging more towards the hardcore/crossover realm, unpretentious jolts of vitality which bounce awkwardly around the ambitious semi-balladic saga “I Never Said Goodbye”, another sentimental piece that may compel two hesitating lovers to tie the knot, and to become forever dependent on each other.

Nope, this isn't the American way… or maybe it was back then, when the scene over there was swiftly covering itself with similar groovy/numetal opuses, and our friends here rushed to present their hometown as a potential capital of these new sounds. Sure, but if there ever was such an audition, the Phoenix authorities must have given the green light to the band’s colleagues Flotsam & Jetsam as their “Quatro” outing was decidedly more seriously-composed and more musically homogenous. In the case here we have this flippancy reflected both in the execution and the songs’ allocation, the guys dispersing their short fast-paced creations amidst the trendier longer groovy tractates, the two sides co-existing in a somewhat forced unnatural way, as it doesn’t become clear until the very end what the band wanted to achieve here… save for severing their ties with their thrash credo of old. It feels like their desire to join the up-and-coming groovy/aggro hordes isn’t that great, and their forced (presumably) submission to them instigates this (sub)conscious rebellion a product of which are the speedy shorters. Sure thing but what was the target to be hit with such a disparate indepen… sorry, incoherent, collection? The newly-sprung numetal fandom would hardly swear allegiance to these tunes; and the old school one would frown contemptuously, encountering another betrayal of their cherished canons.

At least one should pay kudos to Phil Rind, the man by far the finest performer here, his clean attached croons suitably adjusted to the newly discovered melodicisms, carrying this album to wherever it wanted to go… cause no one could have predicted its final destination back then… but it was an independent recording, for crying out loud; it didn’t have to display conformism. It simply wanted to float in the sea of modern sounds, without seeking a port to land, and by no means intent on pleasing those who started marching with intimidation and determination under the militant tunes of their previous instalment.

A return to said tunes may have been considered after this unconvincing gesture of independence, and although the following “Heal” wasn’t exactly a distinct sequel to the band’s magnum opus, it was at least sincerely thrash-prone for at least half the time, the rest again preserved for the groovy shenanigans. A more dignified recording, it was left without a follow-up for 23 years when the reunion effort, fittingly-titled “Awakening”, reminded of this cohort with a pretty decent take on the good old thrash. The American way? Yep, why not… we all want to feel alive, to mosh with little restraint in smaller or bigger portions… and to revel in memories of the times when independence also meant shirking ignorantly from the righteous musical path.

Independent? Definitely not. Guess they want to fool us. I do not know a lot of bands that were less autonomous than Phil Rind and his sidekicks. They followed each and every trend (mostly a little bit too late) instead of sticking to their guns. Due to their erratic behaviour, the band's name became a symbol of fickleness and the lack of authenticity casts a shadow over their late works. To be more precise, I mean all their albums with the exception of the debut and "Surf Nicaragua". But due to whatever reasons, I am not able to hate the quartet wholeheartedly, probably because the guys penned some fascinating songs during their entire career. The title track / opener of the here presented effort is musically brilliant and thrives on a vigorous riff, but already the first line of the lyrics ("Read my lips, I don't care what you say") is simply a lie. It is therefore no surprise that each and every tune leaves an ambivalent impression - or a really bad one, because some compositions go down the tubes.

Did I write "some" compositions? Honestly, there are more downers than solid tunes. The hard times already begin with track no. 4, "Supremacy". Sacred Reich deliver a couple of pseudo-thrash ejections and mix them with likewise stupid work samples with untypical configurations. "If Only" is a soft instrumental that nobody ever wanted to be part of a heavy metal album. A complete waste of time. "I Never Said Goodbye" will be enjoyed by fans of lubricious rock ballads. Despite its fairly aggressive instrumental part, this song sucks. More or less the same must be said about the fittingly named (and totally tedious) "Crawling". It wants to appear extremely heavy in view of its fat guitars, but even every ballad of the Scorpions would "rock you like hurricane" after the senseless "If Only". "Pressure" can score with its dynamic chorus and that is certainly better than nothing. Yet it is a shame that the main riff of "Open Book" lies in very close proximity to that of the aforementioned chorus.

On the positive side, we have lyrics that omit to glorify violence and a proper production. But at the end of the day, the quality of the sound is always just a technical detail. I would not rule out that even some non-metal albums have a good production, maybe two or three in the history of commercial music. Be that as it may, let's keep the focus on "Independent". In terms of the songs, I don't see many reasons to be joyous. Leaving aside the title track, only "Just Like That" develops a sustainable effect, although it is performed with the enthusiasm of a sleeping groundhog. The robotic vocals during the chorus have the effect of hastily taken sleeping pills. Nevertheless, a fairly good song with catchy guitar lines.

Finally, take a look at the cover. You see the masses that Sacred Reich tried to impress with their "more variable style" (to express it politely). But no matter how close you look, you will not find a metalhead in the crowd. Are you surprised? Then I recommend to listen - only for a few seconds, I don't intend to damage your precious health - to "Product". This thrash-heavy-rock-whatever piece features a stuttering guitar work that has written "bullshit" all over it. It is therefore only logical that people with a good music taste left the meeting place. Believe me, I really wanted to love this album in view of a certain number of excellent previous tracks of the band, for example "Victim of Demise", "One Nation" or "The American Way". But sorry, I can't, because this album doesn't live up to its name. Independent? Definitely not. Dependent from the expectations of the management and the zeitgeist? Yes, definitely.

Sometimes bad music can cause one to have an epiphany. This personal revelation, coming about often at the absolute nadir of a lousy song or an album, usually provides a fresh perspective on a fair amount of similar music. For a long time, I've tended to dislike both groove metal and other various forms of metal and heavier rock music that are readily associated with the early to mid 1990s, but there wasn't a singular word in my vocabulary that could convey why this was the case, but rather a lengthy diatribe that would involve tearing apart several key figures from that time period from Machine Head to Nirvana. But upon recent review of Sacred Reich's sad little third full length studio outing Independent (irony knoweth no bounds nor shame in how said name was applied), a single word came to mind that summed up the fatal flaw of the music contained within and the vast majority of its contemporary equivalents, and that word was reductive.

This album is often wrongly described as being a thrash metal album, though in truth, labels like half-thrash or groove metal also fail to account for the wavelength upon which this collection of sloppy, grunge meets semi-metal infused trite operates. It carries a fair bit in common with the plodding and stagnant character of early death n' roll offerings courtesy of mid to late 90s Six Feet Under and Entombed, being a bit faster and heavier than full out grunge excursions like Anthrax's Sound Of White Noise and the sordid alternative rock drivel on Load and Reload, but being about as elaborate as the latter categories in question and having a similarly grungy vocal display out of Phil Rind. Truth be told, the one strong point that this album carries is that Rind's vocals manage to all but perfectly emulate the bellowing baritone sound popularized by Layne Staley and Eddie Vedder, doing a far better job at it than Robb Flynn while on the subject.

But for all its general lack of intricacies and highly derivative overall character, the most outwardly offensive aspect of an album like this is the overt pandering it exhibits, even compared to the previous commercialized style shift that occurred on The American Way. There is nothing "independent" about the presentation of musical ideas on here, but rather an utter slavishness to an earlier past than the 80s thrash scene, poorly realized and reduced to banal imitation or, more often, fragments of past songs stretched out to the lengths of full length ones. This is perhaps best displayed in one of the so-called thrashers found on here in "Open Book", which kicks off a single rock riff on the bass in a manner reminiscent of nearly every other Nirvana song to enjoy regular MTV play, which is then copied by the guitars. While this riff does see some variation, it is so auspiciously close to being directly stolen from the fast section of Sabbath's "Electric Funeral" that it smacks the listener over the head even when it isn't being played, resulting in a song that somehow comes off like every Godsmack hit a good five years before they hit the airwaves.

The air of post-grunge before there was such a thing as post-grunge tends to recur fairly often on this album, though it's not quite the only factor in play. Among the somewhat more thrashing yet not fully thrash half-measures include stands opening speeder and title song "Independent", which would be a decent song if it were not so repetitive. This issue is similarly felt on other faster numbers like "Pressure" and "Do It", both of which have extremely similar sounding riffs to the other two aforementioned songs, resulting in a fairly one-dimensional experience, though to be fair, "Pressure" also makes some time for a really crappy Pantera-like breakdown. On the slower end of things are a full out nod to Pantera in "Free", bound up in a slightly more melodic package and with a sloppy ass lead guitar display. That's another thing about this entire album, former shred artist and technician Wiley Arnet (aka the guy who lit the fret board on fire at every lead break on Ignorance) finds himself sounding like a third rate rock guitarist, bound to bluesy cliches and occasionally sounding out of tune like a Fast Eddie Clarke with his fingers broken.

There isn't really much to be said for an album like this when all is said and done, as it is wholly a product of its time, and a crappy time at that if thrash metal is one's poison. When not outright ripping off ideas from grunge and groove outfits and dumbing them down even further with an eye to keeping their music videos on regular rotation on MTV (which incidentally ate this album up at the time), they even make time to write a really lame homage to Black Sabbath in "Crawling", which occasionally sounds like a cover of "Hole In The Sky", and decide to throw together an instrumental acoustic interlude called "If Only" that's suspiciously similar to Metallica's "Nothing Else Matters" yet bucks the trend of the rest of the album by being a bit more elaborate than its inspiration and becoming the best thing on here. This whole steaming pile of vapid, uninspired pandering would solidify any newcomer band's status as wannabes, which adds insult to injury as Sacred Reich falls more into the "has been" department as well. Fans of earlier works by this band see it as a fruitless departure from a working format and tend to hate it accordingly, whereas my hate for it tends to flow from general principle, as it should for anyone else.

Some people complained Sacred Reich had lost a lot of speed on the American Way album. No matter how much a statement like that might be true, it still was a thrash metal album, built around palm muted riffing but focussing much more on vocal lines and catchiness. I’ve always had a soft spot for the American Way. It remains one of those rare thrash metal albums with an overdose of midpaced songs that actually does work. The majority of the songs simply was that good! On Independent however we hear a band losing their grip. Not only qualitatively but also stylewise.

Thrash was pretty much dead around 1992, true, and the bands who didn’t call it quits went on playing watered down groove metal or whatever. Sacred Reich unfortunately were one of those and definitely not the best ones. Phil Rind was a great vocalist, charismatic and a great lyricist, but he alone was not enough to save the album. It’s pretentious groove which ruins the album and an almost total lack of aggression and energy on the non-fast material.

We have 4 good songs here, the title track "Independent", "Open Book", "Pressure" and "Do it". But somehow these songs sound different from the assault we had on Ignorance. Why’s that? These fast songs aren’t really thrash, they’re crossover. Good at that, but not thrash like the band played earlier.

And then there were a few songs with just good ideas but never reaching their full potential. Rhythmically the song "Product" was a great tune and "I Never Said Goodbye" had a good format and dynamics. The rest? The rest of the album consisted of groovy midtempo based music which made the album get boring after a while with "Just Like That" and "Crawling" being two of the worst and tedious songs in Sacred Reich history.

Now those 4 good energetic songs and those other two with nice ideas are reason enough for me to hold on to this album but I can imagine the average thrash metal collector not paying interest in this album. However I must say you’d be missing out on the titletrack which easily is one of the best Sacred Reich songs, ever.