artist Sacrifice

SACRIFICE was one of the best Canadian thrash metal bands in the 1980s. While the USA had its big 4 (Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax, Slayer), Canada also had its own big 4 – VOIVOD, RAZOR, ANNIHILATOR and Toronto’s SACRIFICE. Born in Scarborough in 1983, the band released three albums during the 80s on Diabolic Force / Fringe (Torment In Fire, Forward To Termination and Soldiers Of Misfortune) that are all considered to be absolute thrash metal classics. The band even had a pretty big video hit on Much Music (back when they played videos, of course) with “Reanimation” and was a big live draw across Canada.

At the end of the 80s, drummer Gus Pynn left the band and they went ahead and recorded one more album (Apocalypse Inside) before putting the SACRIFICE machine to slumber. The band members went their separate ways, worked on other projects and moved to different regions of North America, but the demand for the band never died.

In 2006, after years of demands from promoters and fans for the band to reunite, SACRIFICE did a special one-off show at Toronto’s Opera House that was a complete sell out.  Fans came from across Europe and North America to see if the band could still play as fast and as violently as they did in their heyday. And they could. Oh, could they ever. The show went so well that the band did another show in Winnipeg that had the same outcome, sold out and the band played like they had never gone away. In fact, the band were so happy with the outcome, they decided to record a new album, the outcome of which will be released in Canada by Sonic Unyon as The Ones I Condemn.

Already released in South America by the Brazilian-based Marquee Records, The Ones I Condemn finds the original band back together for the first time since Soldiers Of Misfortune with just as much piss and vinegar some twenty years on. Recorded at home in Toronto last winter, the album contains ten newly written album tracks that sound just as classic as the band did the first time around. Also included on the Canadian version of the album is an amazing cover version of the RUSH classic “Anthem.”

Already receiving rave reviews in the metal underground worldwide, Sonic Unyon is thrilled to be able to make this future metal classic available in stores from coast to coast. Definitely a strong contender for Canadian Metal Album of The Year, even former Diabolic Force / Sacrifice producer Brian Taylor is calling it a masterpiece.