Formed in 1985, Sacred Oath is an American power metal band hailing from Bethel, Connecticut. After releasing their debut album, A Crystal Vision, in 1987, the band disbanded in 1988. After reforming, the band has released a slew of new albums since 2005. Stormspell Records now presents Demo Anthology (1985-1986), which collects the band’s first two demo recordings.

Demo anthologies are interesting beasts. Mostly, they appeal to long-time, die-hard fans who want more from their favorite bands, maybe even more versions of songs they already love. Not the kind of release that appeals, typically, to new fans who want to get to the best material from a band, the demo anthology can actually prove a great introduction if the demos are of a high enough quality. Full disclosure: I have never had the opportunity to delve into Sacred Oath’s world before this, and so I suppose I can serve as something of a litmus test for how these demos sound to those who don’t already know and love the band. After diving into the anthology, I find it to be an excellent collection of songs, demos or not. Actually, for demos, these songs sound great: the instruments all sound surprisingly clear, and the little bit of grime that you get from the lower fidelity recording actually adds a patina of mystery that suits the songs well. Speaking of the songs, they are absolutely brimming with hard hitting riffs, idiosyncratic vocals, and top-tier drumming. Let’s dive in.

Review

The Ferryman’s Lair (1986) is an excellent introduction to Sacred Oath’s sound: U.S. power metal with touches of progressive metal, thrash, and doom gives Sacred Oath’s output a unique sound all while catching the attention of fans, like yours truly, of Manilla Road, Fates Warning, Mercyful Fate, and even Pagan Altar. The riffing is righteous, the vocals are captivating, and the rhythm section knows how to spice things up. This particular version of The Ferryman’s Lair sounds crisp for a demo (but you demo lovers worry not, there’s a slightly “rougher” take on this track later on in the anthology). The track kicks off with a descending chromatic riff that immediately evokes a sense of danger and evil. Before you know it, things kick into gear with a thrashing riff that leads into the verse riff, which is burly and thunderous. Rob Thorne’s vocals enter with that beautiful, much sought after echo of ‘80s production. Have I mentioned that this thing sounds great for a collection of demos? The vocals trade off between mid-range and falsetto registers, and it’s immediately captivating for this lover of unique (some might say weird) vocal styles. Even at nearly six minutes, I was engaged the entire time. A fantastic start for this collection of demo tracks. A raging guitar solo about halfway just ups the ante on this raucous song.

Queen of the Night opens with clean, plucked electric guitar that sets a more mournful mood before the track jumps into a power metal riff with Thorne’s signature wailing vocals. Like The Ferryman’s Lair, this track also makes great but tastefully sparing use of twin guitar leads. It’s just one of the many tricks in Sacred Oath’s bag. Queen of the Night also features a funereal interlude that recalls for me Pagan Altar. This trick excels at jumping from these powerful, burly riffs to doom-and-gloom atmosphere. An electrifying slew of guitar solos also seals this track’s fate as a certified banger. At seven minutes, the track does feel a little overstuffed, but that’s the fun of a demo: ideas are more important than songs, and this one is chock full of ‘em.

Opening with some very eerie and unsettling wailing overtop crunchy, chugging guitars, Rising from the Grave features one of many ass kicking riffs from the collection. This is U.S. power metal through and through; Sacred Oath set the stage for the burly riffing and atmospheric mystique much beloved today’s epic power metal bands. The vocals have that distinctive ‘80’s style of chanted grunting that makes so many proto-thrash albums loveable. Rising from the Grave descends into a whispered interlude that sets the stage for some prettily picked guitar and high-on-the-neck bass work before the song blasts back into a muscular riff over which an energizing guitar solo plays. Another awesome track.

The End launches right into the hardest, heaviest riff of the collection. This riff wouldn’t feel out of place on an Eternal Champion song, which is to say it rules. In some ways, Sacred Oath really set the stage for the particular mixture of power and thrash metal that bands like Myth Carver are trying to capture today. All of this is wrapped in a packaging that I can only call pure ‘80’s heavy metal madness. The End in particular leans into proto-thrash riffage. My favorite track on the collection, hands down, this track makes a perfect synergy of the band’s talents for tempo changes, evocative guitar leads, and simply badass riffs.

Shadow Out of Time is another ass beater. This ain’t the power metal of Europe: these riffs are brawlers! Thorne is the perfect vocalist to take these riffs from caveman stompers to power metal majesty. I haven’t said enough yet about how fantastic the guitar solos are on this collection, either, and Shadow Out of Time features one of the best on the anthology. Another standout track, without question; I can see why they named their second collection of demos after this song.

Battle Cry takes us back in time roughly a year or so: this is the first of three songs from Sacred Oath’s first demo, which came out in 1985, while the first five songs are from 1986. The production, of course, changes a little, but it still sounds quite clear and has just the right level of grime. Battle Cry has a little more power metal flavor than the previous tracks, but don’t get me wrong: there are still some delightfully knuckle-dragging riffs on this one. The pace picks up about halfway through to match the fretboard fireworks of another excellent solo.

Prophecy starts off a little quiet, but definitely not boring. Great drums underlie clean guitar arpeggios and Thorne’s softly crooned vocals. But it’s a trick: this track explodes into a pure heavy metal riff. A guitar solo enters and I am again reminded of the legendary Pagan Altar, who knew better than any of their contemporaries how to make a guitar solo jump right out of the speakers. This may not be my favorite track on the collection, but it confirms that there are no duds here. Every track has character, killer riffs, and guitar solos for days.

The collection concludes with the 1985 version of The Ferryman’s Lair. By no means a bad song, this is I’d say the lesser version of the two included and will appeal mostly to the die-hard fans who want to hear more iterations of their favorite Sacred Oath jams. There is something to be said for just how locked-in Sacred Oath was on this early version, one of the first songs they recorded and released. I’m left with one question: why isn’t this band talked about more?  

Conclusion

Simply put, this material transcends its production and is an absolute must-hear, especially for fans of Manilla Road and U.S. power metal. Actually, I think this production quality perfectly suits the songs. The members of Sacred Oath are excellent players, and the demo quality recording adds to these tracks a layer of mystique and a little dirt that surprisingly highlights rather than buries the great playing on display. These songs sound fresh today; I could imagine newer bands putting these songs on and feeling that they are adding to the lineage laid down by Sacred Oath. I’m psyched to jump into Sacred Oath’s other material after hearing these songs, which is a testament to how great these early songs are. In short, don’t be fooled by the “demo anthology” tag: these demos deserve your attention, stat!

TheNWOTHM Score: 9.0/10 

Links

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SacredOathOfficial/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sacredoath

Label: http://www.stormspell.com/

Band: https://www.sacredoath.net/

Out now!

Current Line-up:
Rob Thorne – Guitars/vocals
Kenny Evans – Drums
Scott Waite – Bass
Damiano Christian – Guitars