Review by Michael on December 15, 2024.

A couple of weeks ago I became super excited when I read the announcement that Canadian thrash legends Sacrifice are going to release a follow-up to their 2009 effort The Ones I Condemn which was a killer one. So the bars are set pretty high for their new album which is simply called Volume Six – let's see if it just isn't a lame duck in comparison to it.

Starting with some atmospheric gloomy guitar sounds, a furious riff inferno soon breaks out. The first track is titled 'Comatose' but here nothing is comatose indeed. Staccato-like riffs and a raging drum-pace are firing some really lethal thrash vibes out of the speakers and here and there you get reminded of good old Slayer whereby Sacrifice have always been a little bit more one-dimensional. When you can in some Slayer songs more variability, the Canadians use much simpler song structures with fewer riffs and guitar solos. They are Status Quo in the thrash metal scene so to speak.

What is clearly to state for Volume Six is that Sacrifice sound as fresh as ever – you couldn't guess that the guys already exist for about 40 years now and ever since in the same line-up when you hear them. Rob Urbinatis vocals are super crispy and powerful and the instruments are played with a lot of skill and great technique. This all sounds very modern and not like from some guys who are maybe about mid-50 or older (I couldn't find any information about their age, except for Gus Pynn on drums).

And what I also have to state is that the album needs several spins to unfold. There are a lot of more or less similar sounding songs because of the simple riffing that you start to appreciate when you heard the album for more than one time. I was a little bit disappointed when I heard it first because there is nothing really new on it. You have heard it already on their other albums in one or the other way.

But on the other hand, do you want Sacrifice to do anything else? Some more trendy stuff or whatever? I guess the disappointment and the protests would have been much stronger than doing what everybody is expecting of them.

Volume Six has become a good thrash album that everybody who loved the five previous ones will also like. Here and there are even some surprises such as a creeping song like 'Underneath Millenia' which is more or less unusual for them or the cover song 'Trapped In A World' by the Canadian hardcore band Direct Action (with guest vocals by Youth Youth Youth vocalist Brian Taylor who also produced Sacrifices' first three albums). Another remarkable song is 'Black Hashish', one of two instrumental tracks on the album, which has turned out to be a little bit more psychedelic – I get reminded of the guitars in "Seasons In The Abyss" a little bit here and there.

Maybe it is not the #1 album by Sacrifice but still a great effort. Let's hope that Dark Angel will also bring out another album in 25 so that we have two (hopefully) cool thrash attacks in the upcoming year.

Rating: 8 out of 10