Sacrament - Haunts of Violence

Read this "mediocre" review about one of my favorite records.

Sacrament's supposed "Opus" - 75%

Written by TiredOfBeingAlive on June 24th, 2007

I'm no fan of Christian bands (ex. As I Lay Dying, Underoath, bands like that), but these guys are slightly different. THEY'RE THRASH! Well...sort of, but we'll get to that later. According to ClassicThrash.com, this album is a "minor masterpiece." So you know I had to go check this one out. When it came in the mail, I was surprised at what I heard. It was actually halfway decent! It was great the first few spins, but after that, it begins to degrade in your mind. The more I listened, the less Thrash I heard and the more Groove I heard. I like Groove every now and then, but that change just seemed to disappoint me, as it wasn't what I was expecting. The album is actually rather mediocre, but it's nowhere near horrible. Besides the heavily tongue-in-cheek Christian lyrics, which can get very annoying after a while (I'm no Anti-Christian or anything), it's a decent album. It's pretty much it's own brand of Thrash though. If you're looking for some Thrash that is very original, this is an album to get. I'm only giving it a 75 because well...I know these guys are trying. The musicianship is excellent and the songs are enjoyable. But it's just not my idea of a Thrash masterpiece. This album is an acquired taste. It's a buy if you're a Christian Thrash fan though.

Funny... At first he liked it quite a bit but then the Christian factor card had to be played.

I think I like this one better than Testimony of the apocalypse but I'm not positive, both albums were really good.

You spelled Sacrament wrong dawg, thought it was a different band for a minute there

I dont care what this guy thinks its one of my favorite thrash releases of all time.I wish theyd put out some new material.I loved Rob Wolfes vocals on this.

thrasher73 wrote:

I dont care what this guy thinks its one of my favorite thrash releases of all time.I wish theyd put out some new material.I loved Rob Wolfes vocals on this.

Yeah, he had a bit of a Tom Araya thing going on.

DeathCult wrote:

You spelled Sacrament wrong dawg, thought it was a different band for a minute there

Thanks for catching that...

i liked testimonie of apocalypse more

Excellent album. Love Wolfe' yelpy vocals and the choaotic guitar solos. Not sure how anyone would classify this as "groove", but whatever.

ultmetal wrote:

Excellent album. Love Wolfe' yelpy vocals and the choaotic guitar solos. Not sure how anyone would classify this as "groove", but whatever.

There are a few very short bursts of groove (carry the corpse) here and there but it's more just technical thrash.

Um, what album was that guy listening to? The more he listened the more groove he heard? I can probably count on one hand, with fingers to spare mind you, the TOTAL number of minutes that any groove-based riffs are used on that album.

The only knock I can give the album is that it occasionally starts to sound a bit same-y. Robert Wolfe's vocals are positively RAVENOUS! The riffs are fast, often technical, and hard-hitting. There aren't that many albums out there with the sheer viciousness that it displays.

I had the tape way back when and it walked away from our practice room one day. Go figure. Recently, a really kewl dude traded me for the re-issue.

Testimony of Apocalypse was a long time favorite. I heard 'Haunts of Violence' but was unable to actually procure a copy. TOA was brilliant imo.

I know Haunts was a bit different and would love to have a chance to hear it again. Maybe one day...!

James B. wrote:

I had the tape way back when and it walked away from our practice room one day. Go figure. Recently, a really kewl dude traded me for the re-issue.

Enjoy! Maybe we can trade again.

One of my faves! Very nice technical thrash and super aggressive for christian metal at the time. Love it!

I have a copy of the remastered version of this for trade, if anyone is interested.