Sacred Steel – Carnage Of Victory (2009)

Not being a big fan of Power Metal, I find it hard reviewing albums of this genre, because most of them sound exactly like each other. Sacred Steel’s “Carnage Of Victory” is one of them, while the music and vocals are not bad, but it’s just something I’ve listened to before.

“Carnage Of Victory” provides us with 11 tracks of very decent Power Metal, I must say that not every Power Metal band I’ve reviewed has the quality that Sacred Steel has. The band on their 7th studio album delivers a very solid recording and should not be ignored by fans of the genre, for non-believers of Power Metal it’s just another album that sounds the same.

Musically this album is very solid, all instruments combine perfectly, something that a band of Sacred Steel status and history has to master. And while the band does not deliver anything ground breaking (I find that Power Metal usually never changes), this album is a very solid effort and a nice addition to their discography.

The guitar riffs and solos are for me the most appealing part of this album, and a big guitar fan, and “Carnage Of Victory” has pretty good riffs, sometimes ever sounding very ‘Trashy’ in nature (I mean like Trash Metal). The vocals provided by Mr. Gerrit P. Mutz are somewhat standard for the genre and overall decent, but not to my full liking, since they pitch is somewhat annoying at times. The growls and backing vocals here and there are a pretty good element to give the songs some variety in this department.

The drumming is very compact and sounds great in the mix this album has, they never overshadow the guitars and vocals, but they are still kicking on the background. The bass guitar line is pretty solid and well used during the songs, something that many times gets lost in the mix, but here everything sounds very well mixed and balanced. One of the things I like on this album are the acoustic passages presented here and there.

If you are looking for a solid Power Metal album “Carnage Of Victory” is one fine release. While I’m not a huge fan of the genre, I can still appreciate this release, since it features very well made music and an awesome production

Release: October 23rd, 2009

Country: Germany