SACRED OUTCRY – Damned For All Time

Something Powerfully Wicked This Way Comes

Hailing from the land of the ancient devouts of Zeus, Athena, and Ares, Power Metal group Sacred Outcry delivers a dark version of Power Metal with excellence. The band has existed since 1998, but only managed to release their debut album in 2020. And what a debut album this is dear reader! Damned For All Time saw the beginning of its recordings in 2001, circulating in rough mixes since then, but never being released to the public. In 2015 the Greek group decided to pick it back up and pushed it through to completion in 2018. Later in 2019 orchestration, mixing, and mastering took place, leading up to the big release in 2020. It was the will of the Gods to bring this record to fruition.

If the cover wasn’t enough of an indication, this is not your standard blonde-haired,  damsel-rescuing, happy go lucky Power Metal, oh no. If the video game series Dark Souls had a Heavy Metal album equivalent, this would be it. Much like Dark Souls, it’s epic, it’s fantasy, but in no way does it fall in the standard clichés of the genre. Dark Souls subverts the standard Fantasy RPG and takes it to a very dark and ruthless place, and in the same fashion, Damned For All Time is a much darker take on the familiar themes, melodies, and textures of the Power Metal genre. And it’s really hard and very heavy, just like Dark Souls.

Although the band cites Manowar, Warlord, Domine, and composer Basil Poledouris as influences, the final result is very similar sounding to the early work of Iced Earth and Blind Guardian combined, with some late Judas Priest spiced on top. The same syncopated rhythms and head-banging moments that can be found on the likes of Something Wicked This Way Comes are found in Damned For All Time, along with the excellent melodies and heaviness created by the German bards in Imaginations From the Other Side. Tribute is paid to all the Heavy Metal greats, with plenty of references to Priest, Maiden, and the influences cited above.

A Damned Good Album

The production is competent and affords an enjoyable listen that does the material proper justice. The performances are great across the board – the guitars tight and precisely timed, the bass having perfect weight and tone to it, and the drums, albeit slightly less punchy than what we would have liked to see, sit well in the mix.

The orchestral sounds could be more connected to the rest of the instruments and sometimes feels “tacked-on”, but the tracks rock as hard as they should. The choirs lend drama and the strings accentuate epic passages with the necessary tension.

Guest vocalist Yannis Papadopoulos fits in perfectly and takes the material to a higher level, with great high pitched screams, outstanding harmonies, and ballsy singing throughout the material.

Damned For All Time – Album Breakdown

The album opens with the mandatory Power Metal orchestral intro, leading into the main single, “Legion of The Fallen” – a powerful, epic hymn that sounds a lot like Ripper-era Iced Earth. “Sacred Outcry”, the band’s namesake song, rocks hard, fusing Thrash, Power, and Traditional Heavy Metal with mastery in a formula that will sound familiar to the early Iced Earth fan. The song delivers excellence in the execution of it, its main riff being probably one of the highlights of Damned For All Time.

In contrast, the band provides plenty of more intimate acoustic moments that at times evoke thoughts of songs like “I Died for You” and “Melancholy (Holy Martyr)” from Jon Schaffer’s mastermind. One such moment is the intro to “Where Ancient Gods Are Still Hailed,” whose breakdown later crosses into paths not unfamiliar to the Symphonic Power Metal fan. Sacred Outcry approaches Rhapsody territory threading lightly, yet executing with mastery the bombastic style of the Italians.

The tavern ballad “Scared to Cry” reveals yet another side of the band, showing their reverence of not only the German bards of Blind Guardian but also the epic vocals of Eric Adams. Violins, violas, and cellos enhance the composition, creating beautiful melancholic moments.

Another highlight in the album, the title track “Damned for All Time” is a 14-minute Schaffer-esque piece that not only executes the formula to perfection but also improves on it. Sacred Outcry delivers the goods in a way that Iced Earth themselves have not been able to in decades. Over the course of the epic, the band mixes it up, with a Kai Hasen inspired breakdown, masterful solos, and great orchestration. The band takes you through a plethora of moods, never failing to sound properly heavy.

Verdict

Fans of Painkiller and later Priest, Iced Earth, early Blind Guardian,  Leverage, or anything involving Tim “Ripper” Owens will find plenty here to love. Sacred Outcry has executed on known formulas and added their own imprint to them, creating something that is both familiar and refreshing at the same time. Damned For All Time is a must-have for anyone who enjoys a high dose of Traditional Heavy Metal infused with Thrash and Power Metal. One can only hope that the Greeks will ride on the high tides Poseidon has put forward with this debut album and carry on further developing their sound. Hopefully, we will have Sacred Outcry delight us again with their powerfully wicked Power Metal.

Tracklist

1. Timeless (1:29)
2. Legion Of The Fallen (5:39)
3. Sacred Outcry (4:16)
4. Where Ancient Gods Are Still Hailed (5:52)
5. Scared To Cry (3:25)
6. Lonely Man (5:55)
7. Crystal Tears (6:26)
8. Damned For All Time (14:30)
9. Farewell (7:33)

Lineup

Yannis Papadopoulos – Vocals (Special Guest)
Dimitris Perros – Lead & Rhythm Guitars
George Apalodimas – Bass
Stelios Darakis – Drums & Percussion
John Skalkotos – Keys
Vagelis Spanakis – Acoustic Guitars

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