Review by Maciek on February 24, 2013.

The album begins with intro which reminds a little of Avantasia or Rhapsody (of Fire). So it is quite shocking when you hear riffs from the second track sounding a lot like Dismal Euphony's "Autumn Leaves...", and that means that it sounds out-of-date. And basically that's the description of the style throughout the whole album. Guitars sound very flat, the female vocalist has very simple melody lines and they almost always sound a little out of tune. Same as guitars and strings in 'Room Nineteen' - it's so bad that my ears hurt after listening to it. The band's style is described as Post-Black-Metal, but unfortunately it's poorly performed Post-Black-Metal from late 90s. If you don't mind female vocalist singing in operatic style slightly out of tune and miss DE's album mentioned above very very much, then this might be album for you. It definitely doesn't appeal to me. If something is out of tune, I prefer it to be done deliberately, like the melody line of saxophone in Ministry's 'Nursing Home'.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 4
Atmosphere: 3
Production: 3
Originality: 2
Overall: 3

Rating: 3 out of 10

Review by JD on August 11, 2013.

The German metal has made some of my favorite metal over the years, and has influenced me more than I probably know. Helloween, Scorpions, Gamma Ray and the metal’s true queen Doro Pesch have been some of the music that has driven my love for years, and Sacred Steel has been one of them for a while now.

Born in 1997, this band took Epic Power Metal and added in some crushing Thrash, blazing Speed Metal elements and Traditional Metal to fashion their sound into a weapon of mass headbanging. Raging riffs and soaring vocals and amazing writing by all seem to make this band’s metal both timeless and relevant while keeping the old school vibrancy alive to kick your ass.

"The Bloodshed Summoning" is one massively amazing album. From the shocking Speed Metal assault of 'Storm Of Fire 1916' to the amazing cover of the Misfits 'Dig Up Her Bones' – these Germans make their metal sing. My favorite track on this album has to be the pounding and yet so melodic and ballsy title track that has seared itself into my brain and nothing has dislodged it yet… and I love it.

One hour and one minute of pure metallic bliss is what you get here, with no frills or filler allowed. This is the album that says that German metal is alive and still so very much relevant in heavy metal. We as proud metalheads populating this great blue and green planet should embrace these Heavy Metal warriors and proudly play this album as loudly as possible. I will do so, beer in hand and horns lifted up and proudly – this is what metal is.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 9.5
Atmosphere: 10
Production: 9.5
Originality: 9.5
Overall: 9.5

Rating: 9.6 out of 10