What still drives me and gets me going is discovering new bands. I am much more open to different styles than I was like 15 years ago. It took me a lot of time to appreciate other styles of music from what I was accustomed to since my musical upbringing and subsequent discovery of Metal in 1993. It was probably before that but I really fell in love with the genre a good 25 years ago.  I am really happy to review SACRIFICED ALLIANCE, a newer band that has their second album coming out in august. They are without a shadow of a doubt a band to look out for in the coming future in Quebec metal scene, I really think they might be the next big thing coming out of good old Quebec. Bands like them, make me want to dive deeper and discover other bands that are rocking the smaller venues with the same drive and passion as more established Quebec bands likes KATAKLYSM, VOIVOD, CRYPTOPSY amongst many many others. They are part of this new generation of bands that are really emerging like AETERNAM, BEYOND CREATION, GET THE SHOT and a flew of other bands.

I am not the biggest Death Metal fan, I have honestly had a hard time back in the day to get used to this particular style of Metal. I make no bones about it, it's not my favorite genre nonetheless they are some exceptions and this band is definitely one of them. SACRIFICED ALLIANCE is a Melodic Death Metal band based out of Longueuil, Québec, Canada. Formed in 2011, the band had previously released one full-length album and two EPs. "Withdrawn" is their second full-length album and contains nine tracks. The Progressive elements are actually quite present and I would classify them as a mixed of old school Death Metal (AT THE GATES, early AMON AMARTH) with bands like WINTERSUN and INTO ETERNITY (without the clean vocals obviously).

I don't really like dissecting individual songs on an album, that's not really my style, I really talk about the importance of the whole album itself. What it means to me personally, what's its global appeal and what I learned when listening to it. I don't wanna put importance on one song rather than another one, one album is one piece of work with all the working pieces. That's how I see an album nowadays and as I grow older, I wanna feel the music through me and then and there, I can have an honest opinion on it. They start off really strong and you can see that they took the time producing this album because it's just awesome. I haven't heard a great production like this since the KARKAOS album back in 2017 that was produced by the great Chris Donaldson from CRYPTOPSY at The Grid Studios in the east end of Montreal. I don't know who did the producing but it sounds so crisp, you can hear all the members clearly. At the far end of the opener, you can hear some crackling fire with an overlay of acoustic guitars and it sounds so good, you can almost imagine yourself near that fire.

They are very creative, they added a lot of percussion here and there on the album and did really enjoy the presence of violin on a number of tracks. It adds some volume and definitely some depth to some songs. It makes them stand out in a genre that has been placid and uninteresting on various points throughout the last decade. Thankfully bands like them and the new breed of Technical or Melodic Death Metal bands like RIVERS OF NIHIL are getting the Death Metal genre back on the map and back in the spotlight where it deserves to be nonetheless.

I feel you don't get short-changed with this album. It's a pretty long album for the genre but it flies by like nothing. I listened to the album at least 2-3 times and it went so fast. I was saying to myself...wait I want more of this! Why should it end now?!? Well, it's that good. As for the Death Metal, earlier on I said that this wasn't my favorite style, it still isn't but if I can understand the vocals on a band and it doesn't sound like the Cookie Monster, I can highly enjoy what they bring to the table. The musicians are on point, the production is top notch and the added symphonic elements and acoustic guitars add a fine layer of creativity of their album which is one of the very best albums I have heard this year bar none. The solos are very good, they don't drag out too long and there is nice flow to the album. I wish them all the success in the world and great success in the August launch of this album!