Sacred Steel (band)
| Sacred Steel | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Genre (s) | Heavy metal , true metal |
| founding | 1996 |
| Website | http://www.sacredsteel.de |
| Founding members | |
| Gerrit Mutz | |
| Oliver Großhans (until 2005) | |
guitar |
Jörg M. Knittel (until 2005) |
| Jens Sonnenberg | |
| Mathias Straub | |
| Current occupation | |
singing |
Gerrit Mutz |
| Jonas Khalil | |
guitar |
Jens Sonnenberg (since 2005) |
| Kai Schindelar (since 2005) | |
| Mathias Straub | |
Sacred Steel is a German true metal band.
history
Before their time at Sacred Steel, the members were involved in other bands and projects, but only gained wider attention as musicians from 1996 after the formation of their new band. After supporting bands like Blitzkrieg , they became the first German band to sign a record deal with Metal Blade Records in April 1997 . The debut album Reborn in Steel was released in October of the same year.
In 1998 Sacred Steel played a gig at Wacken Open Air , recorded the second album with Bill Metoyer as producer and was shortlisted for a Grammy nomination for 'Best Heavy Metal Performance'. In November of the same year Wargods of Metal appeared and was able to surpass the debut in sales. In 1999 the band went on a European tour, released various tracks on compilations and did another Wacken show. In 2000 the band recorded their third album Bloodlust , which was released at the end of the year. The producer was Achim Köhler, who should also produce the next albums.
2001 Sacred Steel went on tour again, u. a. with Primal Fear and Children of Bodom , began work on the next album and signed a new record deal with Massacre Records . In 2002 Slaughter Prophecy was released , which was produced with the same team as its predecessor. The live activity of the band became more and more festivals Underground chewed out on occasional gigs, short tours and it was followed by several small publications and life, such as the title track to Century Media Records tribute album of Uriah Heep ( A Return to Fantasy ), Compliationtracks or a limited vinyl single together with wizard .
In 2004 Iron Blessings was recorded and presented on October 30, 2004 during a big release party in the Ludwigsburg Karlskaserne . The live CD / DVD Live Blessings , which was released in 2006, was also recorded there. Again with the same team around Achim Köhler, Iron Blessings was implemented as a continuation of Slaughter Prophecy . A week after the show, they performed at the Keep It True festival .
After it had become rather quiet around Sacred Steel in 2005, the DVD release Live Blessings marked the end of an era, as Jörg Michael Knittel and Oliver Großhans, both guitarists of the original line-up, left the band for their death metal - Dedicate project to My Darkest Hate . Jens Sonnenberg then switched from bass to guitar and Kai Schindelar joined the band as the new bassist, Jonas Khalil (ex-Eternal Glory and former guitar roadie ) as the second guitarist.
In 2006 the band recorded their first album with the new line-up together with Sodom producer Harris Johns .
style
Musically, Sacred Steel move between True Metal with American influences and harder Thrash - or Speed Metal , but also allow other influences such as Epic Metal or Doom Metal .
Other Projects
The founding members and former guitarists Jörg Knittel and Oliver Großhans left Sacred Steel in 2005 to concentrate on their death metal band My Darkest Hate . Knittel also plays in Dawn of Winter .
Knittel and Jens Sonnenberg ran the Iron Glory Records label together with Andreas Preisig from 1997 to 2004 . After Iron Glory broke up, Preisig founded a new label, Battlecry Records .
Sonnenberg played a. a. at Stikki Fykk and Baphomet. For several years he was the publisher and editor-in-chief of a fanzine . He is the uncle of the indie and pop musician Björn Sonnenberg, who plays guitar for the Karpatenhund .
Gerrit P. Mutz still sings on Dawn of Winter and Chapel of Gore with Jonas on guitar.
Drummer Matthias Straub played for the German power metal band Mystic Prophecy . What is less well known is that he also recorded the drums on the first Stikki Fykk album "Fazt Carz An 'Rock'n Roll Starz".
Guitarist Jonas Khalil has also played with Stikki Fykk, is with Gerrit in Chapel of Gore and plays with Disbelief . He was also the guitarist of the speed metal band Eternal Glory from 1999 to 2000.
Kai Schindelar is also a member of Lanfear and played bass on the Stikki Fykk album Sleazy We Meow! .
Discography
Studio albums
- 1997: Reborn in Steel
- 1998: Wargods of Metal
- 2000: Bloodlust
- 2002: Slaughter Prophecy
- 2004: Iron Blessings
- 2006: Hammer of Destruction
- 2009: Carnage Victory
- 2013: The Bloodshed Summoning
- 2016: Heavy Metal Sacrifice
Other albums
- 2003: Metal Forever Vol. 1 - Split 7 "with Wizzard (MDD Records)
- 2006: Live Blessings (live double CD + DVD)