The American Way

Amongst the outfits popping up like an infinite regression of Bay Area reflections, Sacred Reich was one of those bands that didn't quite manage to smash the mirror with a lot of intrigue. Speaking in terms of neck-destroying mayhem, these guys were way behind the curve if one's standards include the likes of early Testament and Vio-Lence, to speak nothing for Dark Angel. Likewise, their sense of melody bordered somewhere between moderately memorable to plain sufficiency, falling short of the classic hooks brought out by Metallica and Megadeth. Honestly, the only area where they really made a mark was in their one-dimensional obsession with politics, coming off as the greenest of the green, even when compared to the likes of Nuclear Assault, while failing to capture the wit and humor that goes along with the ride.

Nevertheless, they did manage to make a respectable splash in the 80s, but by the time 1990 rolled in, it was pretty clear that Sacred Reich was more of a mind to play to the MTV approved version of things, taking a few cues from outright disasters on tape like "Frolic Through The Park" but largely taking the slower, groovy, safe route also taken by Xentrix, Anthrax and D.R.I. at around the same juncture. In essence, when hearing moderately catchy and heavily formulaic mixtures of mid-tempo with occasional jumps into semi-fast territory like "I Don't Know" and the title song, a name like "The Safe Way" would fit a bit more than "The American Way", to speak nothing for the fact that the anti-PMRC and anti-capitalist cliches littered on this thing reek a bit of pandering considering how late to the show they were and how sloppily the presentation of the subject is presented.

The sad thing is, this album could have been a whole lot better if a few things were accented while others were either downplayed or outright removed. In the former camp of good efforts is a decent nod to later 80s Metallica in "Love...Hate", which starts things off on a high note and showcases some solid bass work, along with "The Way It Is" which tells a slightly longer version of the same musical story. But in the latter camp of outright suck includes a sappy half-ballad with horrendous lyrics in "Who's To Blame" which apes heavily off of the Nuclear Assault approach to balladry but is destroyed by brazen vocals and tired cliche musical ideas. Along for the ride on the wrong end of the tracks is a warning sign of the impending death of 80s thrash dubbed "31 Flavors", a really goofy funk track with zero humor and a lot of potential lawsuits from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers that managed not to get filed.

All in all, this is something that is digestible in small doses, particularly if a couple of the really bad songs are omitted from the mix. They didn't crash and burn quite as bad as Death Angel did a couple years before, but this could be likened to a similarly unnecessary attempt at cleaning up a style to make it safe for more people to like, which never really works in practice and always ends up destroying a scene. Every style has its b-list bands which never break out of the pack, but are otherwise listenable when at their best, but "The American Way" falls a bit short of even this band's version of their best, and definitely foreshadows the outright crap-shoot that would ensue on subsequent albums. Politics is all fun in games until somebody writes shitty music to get their message across.