SACRILEGE - Behind The Realms Of Madness MLP (Black Vinyl)

ltd 500, black vinyl, 425gsm heavy cardboard cover, insert, poster.

To me, crust punk has always been the fusion between thrash/early death metal and hardcore punk. We're talking about Bolt Thrower, Nuclear Assault, Hellhammer, or Kreator mixed with the likes of Chaos UK, Disorder, Broken Bones, Moderat Likvidation, or other mid to late 80s UK82 and Swedish hardcore bands.

Crust Punk, in one of the earlier forms, is Sacrilege.

This entire album is exactly as I have described. Semi-repetitive d-beat, thrash drums over vicious chugging riffs with protesting female vocals about the state of society. To some, this might sound a bit annoying, but to me this is the epitome of early crusty stenchcore in which the members of bands like Sacrilege and Deviated Instinct were putting their metal touches on punk rock and opening up an entirely new genre that bands like Doom and Extinction of Mankind would come to adopt later on in the earlier part of the next decade. Dirty, patchwork Brits, some of whom were homeless squatters, playing the thrashiest, heaviest punk they could get their pawn shop guitars tuned to.

On Behind the Realms of Madness, we have heavy, spine-tingling crust and ultimate thrash influence with one hell of a tough singer behind the microphone. There's a badass grim reaper on the cover and looking at that alone should give you a fair idea of what you're in for. Get ready to drink cider, smoke way too much pot, and bang your head to a hybrid of music that was nearly unheard of at the time.