Sacramentum, one of the more forgotten bands of the mid to late 90s, stormed out of the same gates as Dissection, offering a blend of blackened thrash metal. The Coming of Chaos is the band's first US release, coming on the heels of an EP and full length released in Europe. If nothing else, The Coming of Chaos should have established Sacramentum as a band to watch out for, as this CD shows quite a bit of promise and ability. But since history is a mean S.O.B., Sacramentum followed it up with one more release and vanished.

Anyone with a lick of knowledge about Dissection knows they are the template for blackened thrash. You take good, crunchy riffs inspired by 80s thrash like Destruction and Kreator, add in the trebly tendencies of 90s black metal and then have your vocalist rasp with plenty of echo. Dissection pulled this off with stunning results. Sacramentum, while not stunning, established themselves as quite credible here. The songs on The Coming of Chaos are all well written and performed, showing this band's skill level is fairly high. Tempos are fast paced, without an overbearing reliance on blast beating. The nice thing about Sacramentum is the band seems quite locked in on one another, giving a sharp edge to their music.

While this style has been copied and rehashed multiple times over the past few years, Sacramentum's contribution to the style should not be overlooked. Granted, they aren't ever going to be considered luminaries of blackened thrash, but at the very least, this CD should be considered something worth picking up to fill out a niche in your collection.

Review by John Chedsey

Review date: 04/2004

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