Sacrilege (UK)

[Burkhard]

Of all the albums I know, the debut "Behind the Realms of Madness" (released in 1985) by the British band Sacrilege comes closest to "Recognize No Authority" - metaphorically speaking, I'd call them siblings in spirit. The vocals of Lynda "Tam" Simpson sound about as aggressive as Dawn's. The music on "Behind the Realms of Madness", especially the guitar sound, is even a bit rawer than on "Recognize No Authority", whereas the songs are a bit less diverse and "Recognize No Authority" features more and IMO better guitar solos. The lyrics on both albums are in a similar vein and I really like them a lot. Sacrilege (with the songs from their debut) and Détente would have made an absolutely perfect tour package.

On their second album "Within the Prophecy" (which I bought on vinyl when it was released in 1987, whereas I heard the debut for the first time in 1999 when I bought a CD which featured it in addition to "Within the Prophecy"), the vocals became more moderate, the music less raw and the songs longer and more elaborate, though the music still qualifies as thrash metal. It's one of those albums which have aged well. While the album was not one of my most-played way back then, I liked it from the beginning, and when I listen to it nowadays, I still like it as much as I did in the eighties. Of all three Sacrilege-albums, this is my favourite and the one that got the most spins from me.

The third and also last album "Turn Back Trilobite" is my least favourite and I only listen to it rarely. The vocals became even more moderate as well as the music, which now went more into the direction of doom metal. It's not that I dislike moderate vocals or doom metal, I simply like the two predecessors better. Still, there are some beautiful guitar solos on this album - especially "Silent Dark" comes to my mind.

All three albums have been re-released in 2015 ("Behind the Realms of Madness") resp. 2018 ("Within the Prophecy" and "Turn Back Trilobite") with bonus-tracks. Out of these, the one of "Within the Prophecy" is my favourite, because it also features the great song "Insurrection", which wasn't included on the original realase, but only on a compilation album titled "Speed Kills III", and demo versions of "Search Eternal", "The Fear Within", "Winds of Vengeance" and "Insurrection". I'm tempted to say that I like these demo versions even slightly better than the album versions because of the somewhat rawer sound. Demo versions of another three songs from "Within the Prophecy" ("The Captive", "Flight of the Nazgul" and "Sight of the Wise") are included on the re-release of "Behind the Realms of Madness", which also features two new songs (not bad, but not as good as the old stuff IMO) and live versions of "The Closing Irony" and "Bloodrun".

[dawnsearlylight]

Thanks for the post- I think I saw an interview where Dawn credits Tam as an inspiration- cool to see them reunited! Both bands had a hand in the doom revival on some level it seems, and the emergence of death metal.Very much a fan here!

[Burkhard]

Thanks for the post- I think I saw an interview where Dawn credits Tam as an inspiration-

I'd be curious to read that. Do you happen to know in which magazine you read it?

cool to see them reunited!

I'm not really sure they reunited as a band in the sense that there is to be expected a new album, but they do have an official facebook-page.

Both bands had a hand in the doom revival on some level it seems, and the emergence of death metal.

Really? What makes you think so?

On another note, when I recently read through the comments-section of "Behind the Realms of Darkness" on youtube, I found two bands in the same vein being recommended, namely Lifeless Dark and Death Evocaction:

[External Link Removed for Guests] (Lifeless Dark)
[External Link Removed for Guests] (Death Evocation)

Both should appeal to anyone who likes "Behind the Realms of Madness" - great stuff! And if you read through the comments on youtube, I'm not the only one who thinks so.

[Richard]

Welcome to the forum Burkhard! Other people may not know it, but Burkhard is the "#1 Fear of God fan" mentioned in the Toxic Voodoo booklet (though his name was mispelled).

[Burkhard]

Did you have to mention this? And please no spreading of "alternative facts" or half-truths , because what she wrote was "my number one fan from Germany". I also feel more comfortable with this compliment, because nowadays, I listen much more to RNA than WTV (haven't listened to "Toxic Voodoo" in I don't know how many years), and WTV lost the no. 1 position in my "eternal album playlist" to Atrox' "Terrestrials" already several years ago. Still, I'd name Dawn Crosby - now together with Monika Edvardsen, though - as my overall favourite female metal vocalist.

[dawnsearlylight]

That third Sacrilege album was doomier, they were touring w/ Candlemass and others at that point... there was a slower/midtempo thing about both Sacrilege and FoG specifically Within the Veil and the Killing the Pain EP, and Dawn's overall aesthetic vocally and lyrically had such a noir, dungeony thing going on, it always seemed doomy. More extreme and experimental in emotion and vocalization than what was around at the time in "thrash"... I know some of the death metal players also looked to her with a lot of respect (ie chuck schindler)

In so far as the Dawn/Tam connection, I think I read it in a print mag or an audio interview... it was either in answer to a "who do you respect" or "are influenced by" kinda question and "the singer from Sacrilege" was mentioned (along with Doro and a few others) ... I think I remember from that same interview Dawn saying she was digging Sisters of Mercy and ministry at the time of recording Within the Veil (her love for sisters of mercy can be found in this article: [External Link Removed for Guests] - you have to translate it though!)