Yet again back at Sandbacka Bryggeri in Sandviken for an evening of Metal. Again it was a warm and cozy event even if the snow was drifting outside and the temperature stayed below zero all day and kept falling even further down as the night came sneaking in. I guess I'm spoilt with extremely crazy events at Bryggeriet Metal Club because this evening felt a little laid off compared to my previous two visits to the place. And yes, SACRED STEEL and ELITE only drew half the crowd compared to SORCERY and F.K.U. but even if that was the case the place was heated up pretty good anyway. Local boys ELITE were the openers of the evening and I must say I was pleasantly surprised with their no frills Black Metal. No keyboards, no atmospheric elements or no special effects, just basic instruments. Old school perhaps is the best word. They had that Venom feel, disreputable arrangements between the instruments but still with a little bit of the newer Norwegian version of the genre in it. Well worth checking out at least and they did a good job getting the crowd heated up for SACRED STEEL.

It's kind of bizarre with SACRED STEEL, like a love – hate relationship. Gerrit P. Mutz has a very special voice to put it mildly. Sometimes he sounds so horrible that the beer glasses almost start cracking. Of course, most often he gets away with it, the majority of the times it doesn't sound bad at all. And, after listening to the records over and over it would be very strange to have someone else singing these songs. Latest release "Carnage Victory" is a really nice piece of Metal, perhaps not the most original one in their catalog but the songs are really easy to get into and the songs get stuck. That's fair enough for real German Power Metal! It's not much to say about the actual show since it's really a miracle none of them got hurt doing the show. The stage is extremely small and to put five guys upon it who are used to move freely things could have gone really bad.

The great thing with small events is that really special things can happen. Peter, the promoter of the first Sweden gig was invited up on stage to sing "Lust For Blood". He looked very nervous but did a good job. Else it was pretty much what all SACRED STEEL gigs are, a great hour of Metal .

SACRED STEEL setlist:

1. Intro - "Heavy Metal To The End"
2. "Carnage Rules The Fields Of Death"
3. "Metal Is War"
4. "Battle Angel"
5. "Charge Into Overkill"
6. "Carnage Victory"
7. "Slaughter Prophecy"
8. "Hammer Of Destruction"
9. "Broken Rites"
10. "Open Wide The Gates"
11. "Metal Underground"
12. "Metal Reigns Supreme"
13. "Denial Of Judas"
14. "Sacred Bloody Steel"
15. "Heavy Metal To The End"
16. "Blood On My Steel"
17. "Wargods Of Metal"

(victory photos by wardog Erika)