The American Way
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| Studio album by Sacred Reich | ||||
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Publication |
May 15, 1990 |
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admission |
1989 |
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| Label (s) | Enigma Records | |||
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Title (number) |
8th |
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running time |
35 min 27 s |
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Studio (s) |
Cornerstone Recorders ( Los Angeles ) |
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The American Way is the second studio album by the US thrash metal band Sacred Reich . It was released on May 15, 1990 via Enigma Records and is considered the band's best album as well as a genre classic.
Emergence
The 1989 EP Surf Nicaragua was a success and the band received a contract offer from the major label Warner Bros. The previous Sacred Reich Metal Blade Records label gave the band permission to accept the offer. However, the change failed because of the sales veto . Eventually Sacred Reich ended up with Enigma Records.
The new contract gave the band more time to record. Sacred Reich had to record the debut album Ignorance in ten days, the band now had a month and a half. The recordings for The American Way found in Studio Cornerstone recorder in Los Angeles instead. The music producer was Bill Metoyer , who previously worked with bands like Slayer and Flotsam and Jetsam .
Originally the album was supposed to be called "Crimes Against Humanity". A music video was shot for the theme song . The album cover was designed by Paul Stottler. The first draft of a cover for "Crimes Against Humanity", which showed the band mascot OD, was last used on the back of the album.
backgrounds
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Many of the lyrics on the album deal with grievances in American society. "Crimes Against Humanity" deals with the topic of environmental degradation. The song "State of Emergency" deals with apartheid in South Africa . “Who's to Blame” answers the PMRC's allegations , which slandered heavy metal as brutal. In the text, which gives Ozzy Osbourne and Judas Priest as examples, Phil Rind points a finger at the people who blame heavy metal for the suicide of young people. Rather, these people should seek the real responsible. The last song "31 Flavors" is a plea for more tolerance in the metal scene. Musically, the song is part of the funk and atypical for the band.
The video for The American Way was also used in the movie Stone Age Junior .
reception
In the book "Best of Rock & Metal" by the German rock-hard magazine, which lists the 500 strongest metal and hard rock albums of all time according to the rock-hard editors, The American Way was ranked 109th For Boris Kaiser, The American Way is one of the best Thrash Metal albums of all time and praised the “brilliant harmonies and critical lyrics”. Alex Henderson of the online magazine Allmusic described The American Way as the band's finest hour.
Republication
In 2009 the album was reissued by Displeased Records . Shortly beforehand, singer Phil Rind had learned in a conversation with Roadrunner employee Monte Connor that original pressings of The American Way album were being sold for 40 to 50 dollars on eBay . Rind contacted his old record company and asked about a possible re-release. Metal Blade eventually licensed the album to Displeased Records.
In addition to the music video for the theme song, the re-release contains demo versions of the songs "The American Way", "Love ... Hate", "Crimes Against Humanity", "State of Emergency", "I Don't Know" and "31 Flavors" . Rind came across these recordings while browsing through his cassette collection in his parents' house.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Classic - The Story Behind the Milestone: Sacred Reich - The American Way ( Rock Hard , September 2009, pp. 78–79)
- ↑ a b c allmusic.com: The American Way at allmusic.com
- ↑ Rock Hard (Ed.): Best of Rock & Metal - The 500 strongest discs of all time . Heel Verlag , Königswinter 2005, ISBN 3-89880-517-4 , p. 179 .