Sacred Child

s/t

(c)1998 Harm St. Records

Review by Neil St.Laurent

Thanks to Must Have Music for the CD

Re-releases often get met with blank stares and sighs of disappointment, particularly when the initial release date was in the 80's. This Sacred Child is a re-issue of their 1987 debut, and although it may not have much to offer the 90's metal fan, you certainly won't be expecting anything more that what it actually contains.

Sacred Child has that glammy 80's metal sound; simple guitar rhythm with a plain drum beat that intends to be catchy and approachable, rather than emotional or with a complex style. As with most other 80's projects, the sound has a definite empty quality to it, this is primarily as a result of the production of the album -- similar styles of bands produced post-80's have a full sound to them, as that appears to be what people want nowadays. Everybody knows that the core of the 80's glam scene, including bands like Motley Crue, is the vocals. Sacred Child began their life with Dave Reece on vocals, but after an abrupt departure, the band enlisted Astrid Young (if you care to know, she is Neil Young's sister) for the vocal duties. It's hard to determine why this was a huge shock to the 80's scene, for so many of the other metal bands in the scene had male vocalists that sounded like women! In any case though, Astrid adds to the music with somewhat agnst ridden vocals (if reviewed in the 80's she would simply be called a bad singer, but now at least some of us have come to realize the concept of vocal style).

It is very difficult to review such a re-release, especially one who's first recording was strictly analog. This release of Sacred Child is simply out of its time period, and while will still appeal to many listeners out there, doesn't have anything new to offer the current music scene -- of significant note however is that the promoters of this release fully realize that.

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