 vol. I |
RITES OF PASSAGE |
 vol. II |
SNAKEPIT MAGAZINE - May, 2002
Volume 1 of this set of SACRED RITE albums comprises the debut self-titled album ( minus the track "White Boy"), some of the live songs from "The Ritual" and fills out with 3 SABRE demo songs. Volume 2 comprises the rest of "The Ritual" album, all of "Is Nothing Sacred" and 3 more bonus SABRE demo tracks. You will get 2 hours and 12 minutes of molten progressive/traditional metal with solid melodic vocals on these 2 discs. You may ask yourself why this reviewer is being so objective when he should really be going bonkers over the music on display? Well, I really love SACRED RITE- they were Hawaii�s hidden gem throughout the 1980�s as they should have easily gained the notice of every fan of IRON MAIDEN, JUDAS PRIEST, Y&T, MALICE, ARMORED SAINT, LEATHERWOLF and CRIMSON GLORY. "The Blade" contains some of the mastery that made "Killers" slay, while "Executioner" opens in a tradition that "Black Tiger" fans will adore, rolling into the bass heroics of Peter Crane that Steve Harris would have been proud to see a pupil grow into a metal mentor. Every note contained within SACRED RITE�s three albums should be worshipped, investigated, inspected, thrown back together and used as mandatory heavy metal text for a band to take influences, shape their sound and produce music that people can appreciate. The band also produced a killer cover in THE BEATLES "Eleanor Rigby" as well as one of the best power ballads of the 1980�s, the epic "I Will Survive", which you get the chance to hear in demo form on Volume 1 while hearing the album version on Volume 2. Such a shame that the band didn�t get the chance to produce more than these 3 full lengths, but I guess we should be thankful that the public young and old can now re-experience the glory days of metal�s development through SACRED RITE. The j-cards have a complete SACRED RITE history as told by Peter, Mark, Kevin and Jimmy- and secrets into each of the album sessions. Hold off on buying the latest newcomer hyped up label band for 2002 and sink your cash into the real deal here people.
-Matt Coe
LAMENTATIONS OF THE FLAME PRINCESS(Atlanta, Ga.) - Apr. 2002
Heavy metal, real heavy metal, re-released from the 8Os. All three original albums over two CDs (1984�s Sacred Rite on Vol I, 1985�s The Ritual divvied up (live portion on one CD, the studio half on the other), 1986�s Is Nothing Sacred? on Vol II, and the 1983 Sabre demo tracks sprinkled on the end of both CDs), capturing the entire career of true 8Os metal standouts. The whole shebang starts off with a drum and (especially) bass bit of a whirlwind that drives into the opening riffs, definitely IRON MAIDEN tinged, but shit, energy, energy, energy! As the first CD goes along, it�s incredible hearing the hooks, the vocal melodies, and a sound that�s at the same time sophisticated, but innocent. These Hawaiians understood heavy metal. The songs are all of a distinct style (I�ll say it again, and so did many others... IRON MAIDEN can be found all over here, but not in a way that any of these songs would seem appropriate for a MAIDEN album. lnfluence, not copying). Use of the bass for embellishment and a bit of a show-off is cool as well, as the riffs and solos go off around it. The singer is well in control of himself as well, not a high pitched screamer, but a midrange proper singer, Things get weird as we get past the first album�s material, as the lyrics get at times a bit less than great (Teaser, Cold Hearted Girl being best examples), but the sophistication of the band increased, as The Ritual�s instrumental 1812: The Battle (whose name is taken from a trick of the time signature, says they). Overall, the standout songs that make this band worthy of adulation, re-release, and renewed attention would be Wings of Pegasus, Executioner, I�ve Seen the Wizard, I Will Survive (effective ballad, oh yeah), and As It Was Told. Bonus points: SACRED RITE becomes perhaps the first and only band I've ever heard to do Eleanor Rigby without assing it up to an enormous degree. An 8Os unknown heavy metal band doing that. Awesome. One thing I don�t understand, and maybe it�s a production issue, but the band shows development from album to album, but as the Sabre demos show, a lot of this material was all written simultaneously. Yay music critic. But I swear the later stuff is less blatantly MAIDEN. Oh well. Sentinel Steel has once again delivered the goods. Extensive liner notes, biography, photos (the music has stood the test of time, but the photos of an 8Os metal band won�t ever stand the test of time. Whew, doggie, we must admit the 90s brought a more timeless fashion sense to music. Corpsepaint looks like as stupid in 2003 as it did in 1993, and a jeans and T-shirt ensemble is only as dated as the logo of the band on the shirt), lyrics, just absolutely jam packed booklets, everything�s been remastered, the demo tracks have been remixed, Michael Whelan artwork is intact. They even are even sacrificing a bit of a cash-in, frankly, because anybody willing to buy two SACRED RITE albums these days surely would have bought three of them if Sentinel Steel had placed each album on its own CD instead of dividing up one of the albums. I tell you, if 75% of the bands out there took 50% of the care and effort on their original material that Sentinel Steel does on material that�s 15 years old, metal would be a strong, powerful beast that's truly taking over the world, instead of being on the fringes of society as it is. This is an operation that �metal hails!� was truly meant for, without being cheesy or overly sentimental. So if real, authentic, passionate heavy metal is what you want, this is what you should be getting. This is the real deal.
CMB METAL GROUP - Feb. 2002
With the pounding fast-paced "Wings Of Pegasus" the CD opens up, and
volume
one of the two-CD compilation, or should I say compendium, of SACRED
RITE's
material begins. As one has come to expect with a Sentinel Steel
re-release,
the booklet is jam-packed with liner notes, history, reminiscences,
photos,
lyrics, etc, and it all makes great reading material, and for those like
I
that lived through the times, it's nostalgic as well as interesting.
The
music itself is heartfelt MAIDEN worship, sometimes unabashedly taking
bits
and pieces here and there, and sometimes the band has a slight
commercial
touch to some of the songs, which was the reason why I never went crazy
over
this band in the 80s (where I really really loved the faster heavier
stuff
like SLAYER, DESTRUCTION, CORONER, and the eviler powermetal like
MERCYFUL
FATE), though I did own their vinyl, including one of the original
black-n-white pressings of the first 1000 copies of the self-titled
debut,
which sells for a couple hundred bucks nowadays. Too bad I don't have it
anymore. One thing that the band never really had was a singer of
Dickinson's
caliber, a bit of a pity, as while the vocals are fine, they lack the
stellar
range that would most likely have made the band into a superstar.
However, as
it is, one can't deny the power of songs like "Executioner", "The Blade"
and
songs like "Revelation" show the leadguitar skills of the band were very
high, and fans of 80s melodic powermetal need to hear treasures like
this.
With a playing time of 66 minutes, Vol I. comprises the s/t debut album,
and
the Live Side (i.e. Side B) of The Ritual album, plus three additional
tracks
from SABRE, the band that would become SACRED RITE, all remastered. The
SABRE
stuff sounds great too - this band definitely had tremendous talent from
day
one. It was nice to hear this CD and journey back in time. As I said,
nostalgic. It breaks your heart to reading about how hard this band
worked
after releasing their classic material, and the depths that they went to
in
the musical journey, while shitty bands reaped rewards.
Vol. II comprises Side A of The Ritual album and the Nothing Is Sacred
album,
plus several demo tracks from the SABRE days that are interesting to
hear,
and sound great with the remastering job. I can't believe these demo
tracks -
the remastering must have been tremendous - they sound great. Well my
comments for Vol I apply here too - you'll hear tons of great MAIDENy
songs
on this CD, including classics like "I've Seen The Wizard", their moving
cover of "Eleanor Rigby", the best that I've heard, and their epic
masterpiece "The Last Rites" which brilliantly goes into "As It Was
Told".
Very enjoyable to listen to this again after all these years - well over
a
decade!!!
-Tony Zangara
STRUTTER(Holland) - Feb. 2002
SACRED RITE was one of the few bands out of the American State Hawaii. They
released 3 albums in the mid 80s, and also an album under the monniker SABRE
before they changed their name to SACRED RITE in 1984. After the release of
their last LP 'Is nothing sacred' in 1986, it became quiet. Now, 15 years
later the American label SENTINEL STEEL RECORDS has released two CDs of
SACRED RITE, containing together about 132 minutes of music. These two discs
are not only a total must for all dedicated fans of the band, but also
highgly recommended to anyone into classical 80s melodic metal in the style
of FATES WARNING, IRON MAIDEN, TYGERS OF PAN TANG, LEATHERWOLF, URIAH HEEP,
LIZZY BORDEN, RUSSIANS, QUEENSRYCHE� Disc one is the best CD, containing
many great songs, such as "Angels never die" (great melodic heavy rocker a
la TYGERS OF PAN TANG), "R.I.P." (calm start, but later great midtempo
melodic hardrock, very strong song, a bit like URIAH HEEP), "Executioner -
Live" (live version, another great midtempo metal tune with a melodic
chorus, very much like HEEP, TYGERS OF PAN TANG), "The blade" (a SABRE demo,
excellent guitarplay can be heard on this tune) and "I will survive". This
last mentioned song is maybe the best song of SACRED RITE, or should I say
of SABRE, because it is one of the tracks of that SABRE demo LP that was
released just before the first SACRED RITE album. Anyway, "I will survive"
is a great melodic rockballad, with an uptempo part towards the end. The
song itself has a playing length of 8 1/2 minutes and is just pure Y AND T
("I believe in you" period). This is just one of many highlights on 'Rites
of passage volume 1'. Part two continues the story of the Hawaii settled Metal band SACRED RITE.
The first 3 songs ("Teaser", "Ritual" and "Headfirst") on this disc show no
mercy, and are pure early 80s fast N.W.O.B.H.M. type of songs, very much
akin to the very first album of TYGERS OF PAN TANG. The rest of the CD is a
bit different, more melodic hardrock/metal and even show the diversity of
the band, such as on the commercial trip "Cold hearted girl", still an
excellent 80s LA melodic metal tune a la ROUGH CUTT. Other highlights are
"1812: the battle" (midtempo melodic metal), "I will survive" (the SACRED
RITE version of the SABRE classic), "Eleanor rigby" (a surprisingly
excellent cover of THE BEATLES classic), "The last rites" (HUGE melodic
metal!), "As it was told" (fantastic semi melodic rockballad), "Son of
souls" (a SABRE song, pure MAIDENish melodic metal) and "The blade" (another
SABRE song, with excellent guitarwork, was also featured on disc one). In
general, what you get here are two full-length discs of excellent high
quality 80s melodic metal, and besides, the CD booklets contain interesting
extended liner notes, lyrics of all included SACRED RITE songs and some nice
pictures of one of the leading bands from Hawaii back in the 1980s. I wonder
if we ever can hear something new of this band. (Points: 8.5 out of 10)
-Gabor Kleinbloesem
DETRITUS(webzine) - Feb. 2002
"Fi'-nuh-LEEEE'! These reissues have been coming for a very long time
indeed. For those unfamiliar, Sacred Rite were a metal sensation from
Hawaii in the early to mid 80s that never achieved their due. After
selling out of their self-titled, self-released debut in Hawaii in
1983 or '84, they got a distribution deal with Axekiller for Europe
and managed a good deal of movement despite a lack of touring and
possibly one of the least compelling coverpaintings ever (no offense
guys; what can you do on a limited budget?). Chock full of well
constructed songs replete with hints NWOBHM, liberal use of dual
guitar, and fantastic, innovative vocal harmonies, that debut remains
one of my most coveted vinyl possessions. Through the 3 album
catalogue (including 1985's THE RITUAL, Greenworld Records & 1987's IS
NOTHING SACRED, which I believe was New Renaissance Records or
something), the production improved a bit, and the choice coverart by
lightyears (they secured paintings by Michael Whelan for albums 2 &
3), but even in the beginning, beyond an unfavorable drum sound, the
production was very good among independent studio releases. With these
reissues, which represent the first time CD availability for SACRED
RITE and THE RITUAL, Denis Gulbey of Sentinel Steel has done his
requisite bang-up job of presenting product completely re-mastered
both visually and aurally from the original master source and from the
artist's original works. Plenty of biographical, documentary &
photographic content in the liners. What you get here are all three
albums plus some demo extras on two seperate CDs. Volume I features
seven of the eight songs from the debut album (I really dig the guitar
riff in "White Boy", but apparently the song is not viewed favorably
by the band or the fans of their fantasy lyrics and such), filled out
with the b-side of the second album, which was recorded live in 1985,
and then three original studio demo tracks (which all later made it to
album). Volume II contains the first, studio side of album #2, THE
RITUAL, followed by IS NOTHING SACRED in its entirety and then three
studio demos, one of which has never before been heard and features
singer Rob Littlejohn, who was a great cover singer, but didn't fit
the band's original songs well and was dismissed prior to the final
recording of SACRED RITE. Considering the talent on display throughout
their recorded career, there can be no understanding of how they
avoided becoming huge beyond their remote homestate. They demonstrated
prodigal proficiency in every aspect of the creation and performance
of melodic metal and the albums are every bit as compelling as
anything from late-70's or early-80s Iron Maiden & Judas Priest.
Especially considering the quality of the reissue product here, it's
well worth the investigation for anyone who enjoys twin-guitar 80s
metal."
-Paul Lackey
Metal Crypt(webzine) - Nov. 2003
You always know two things about any Sentinel Steel reissue: It will be packed with every extra Denis could lay hands on, and it will be cool. Sacred Rite are (or were) a NWOBHM-era band from Hawaii of all places whom I had never even heard of, but they are worth checking out.
These guys were compared to Maiden so much it was almost funny, so that gives you a pretty good idea of what they sound like. This is midpaced, old-school heavy metal with cool riffs, twin-guitar harmonies, and strong, clear vocals that don't rely on wailing. The best song here is the opener "Wings Of Pegasus" which has a great chorus and some excellent riffs, but all of the six "main" songs here are cool. It all sounds charmingly retro because it is � this was recorded in 1984 after all. It's hard to find things to talk about when a band is just a metal band � no gimmick, nothing weird � they just play cool metal the old-fashioned way.
My only caveat with this CD is that there is not a lot of "Meat" on it. There are 13 tracks here, but only 6 are real studio cuts. The rest is made up of 4 live tracks (2 of which duplicate studio tracks) and 3 recordings from an earlier demo when the band was known as Sabre. (2 of these tracks are also duplicates of songs from earlier in the CD.) So there is a lot of overlap. Now I suppose if you are a big fan of live cuts you might like that, but I'm really not, so that may just be me. Still, the disc is essentially half bonus material. Which is great if you are a manic fan of this band, but if like me you never heard of them before it's a little much. It's a good thing the first half of the disc is so strong.
This is a Sentinel Steel release, so the packaging is superlative. A 16 page booklet with band pics, lyrics, liner notes, a band history and cover art front and back. I do find it a little silly that lyrics are listed individually for each song, even the songs that appear more than once. So the lyrics for "The Blade" for example are printed twice in their entirety, despite the fact that the two versions are identical.
This is a worthy CD to add to your collection if you are a fan of early 80's metal. I can't see why these guys didn't make more waves back in the day, as they were obviously as good or better than a lot of bands that are still with us. A quality reissue of a forgotten band. Recommended to fans of the genre.
-Sargon the Terrible
All Music Guide - 2003
The first volume in the Rites of Passage collection surveys Hawaiian metal band Sacred Rite's eponymous first album, parts of its second, 1985's The Ritual, and three early demos recorded when the band was still known as Sabre. Considering that Sacred Rite only really picked up steam in the second half of its short career, this is decidedly the poorer of the two sets, but serious musical anthropologists may still want to investigate the band's rough-hewn demos, occasional highlights such as "Wings of Pegasus" and "R.I.P.," and pounding live versions of "Revelation" and "Executioner." All in all, a very extensive (perhaps even too much) but complete look back at an underappreciated product of '80s metal.
The second volume in the Rites of Passage collection surveys Hawaiian metal band Sacred Rite's third (and best) album, 1986's Is Nothing Sacred?, the studio portions of their second, 1985's The Ritual, and three early demos recorded when the band was still known as Sabre. Considering that the group only really picked up steam in the second half of its short career, this is decidedly the better of the two sets, and provides an ideal first taste of what these boys were capable of. Occasional second album highlights like "Ritual" and "Headfirst" soon make way for the altogether more mature offerings from album number three, which is featured here in its entirety and includes such barnstorming metal anthems as "I've Seen the Wizard," "I Will Survive," and "The Last Rites." The rare demos featured here also provide some additional collector's value to a very complete look back at an underappreciated product of '80s metal.
-Ed Rivadavia