Sacred Reich :"Awakening"

All the thrash greats are coming out of the wood work to reunite and put out new stuff this year so far Flotsam and Jetsam , Overkill & Death Angel have been the most successful at this can this classic thrash band from Arizona Two members of this line up played on "Ignorance". The drummer played on "Independent" . As far as bands reforming I guess that is pretty acceptable. Their sound has both changed and stayed the same. I think some of it is Rind's vocals are smoother in some places where they used to be gritty. This gives it a more rock n roll feel than thrash. A similar change as say Metal Church, who made the transition a little more gracefully in terms of songwriting. Not as aggressive glory days, it does grow on me. T

he  palm muted chug of " Divide and Conquer" caused Rind to put more balls in his vocals , though belts in a more refined voice for the chorus. I do like the way the guitars punch the chorus. Had to listen to "Salvation" three times before I could form an opinion, as it more rock n roll in many ways and did not grab me.The song writing is not as adventurous as anything off "the American Way".  The palm muted chug is in play on "Manifest Reality" , They even speed up to proper thrash tempo on this , but something is not clicking like it used to. It leans to the side of dialing it in in hopes of remembering what they used to be like. Rind's singing voice is pretty decent. For not being as active as they once were it had held up and matured."Killing Machine" is closer to the kind of music they make. They when it get's to the chorus it takes on more of a rock feel however here it works.  "Death Valley" is dramatically more rock and roll and barely metal . He is clearer singing higher and not giving the same throaty roar he used to.

They touch on the more punk side of thrash on. "Revolution". The verse sounds dialed in but the chorus is cool. so it's a mixed bag. The ng something to believe sticks them once again more on the side of hard rock and I do not see it growing on me in the same way "Divide & Conquer did. This is not as solid as their peers leaning away fro so I will give it an 8.5 though it's a decent album when compared to thrash today and much more focused on song writing.