SACRED OATH Return Of The Dragon | Weekly Heavy Metal Album Review

 

Released by Angel Thorne Music/SRGILS/Virgin/UMG (Independent) on April 2nd, 2021

Quick Background

Sacred Oath is an American heavy metal band from Connecticut. The band was originally formed in 1985 and released their debut album A Crystal Vision in January 1988 becoming a cult-classic as one of the pioneer efforts of the American power metal movement. But the band disbanded in December 1988. Sacred Oath reformed and re-recorded the songs from that album, releasing them as A Crystal Revision in 2005. Since then the band has been active and releasing new studio and live albums.

Return Of The Dragon

Return Of The Dragon is their 8th studio LP featuring 10 tracks and clocking in at 52 minutes. Now what's been interesting about this release is that the band streamed 5 album tracks at regular intervals along with original artwork, lyrics and video content before the full album was out. Meaning, 5 singles with cool specific visuals in advance. You can check the artwork here. The first one to be released was the title track which became song number 3 on the album. It's an interesting song starting with a slow piano melody that goes into some modern sounding guitar licks and jumps into the mid-tempo verse. The chorus is also unexpected with high pitched soft singing. The overall feeling is of a high quality hard rock / glam metal song. Now the best part is that it builds up into a heavy track half way through it, and by the way it is the longest song on the record with close to 7 min. I really dug this one, it's different and bold. "Hammer Of An Angry God" was another single and sounds very different from the title track. A 4-min headbanger more on the power metal veins with chugging guitars and catchy chorus. Back in January this was a good sample of the album because it is a diverse album. And I like it for it. There are no rules or expectations fixed. Each song is unique with its own character and choices. It does give the impression that choices were made in pro of the song regardless of where it was taking the sound of the band. Don't get me wrong it is still very concise and it feels like a cohesive band. And this combination is probably the greatest achievement of Return of the Dragon. Take the song  "At The Gates" for example, not sure if the name of the band is related, but the song is a very modern sounding one due to proggy djent guitar work.  On the other hand the closer track and 5th single "Root Of All Evil" is a power prog metal song, starting with acoustic guitar arpeggios and slow tempo singing that quickly builds into some heavy riffs and screaming. It's also a longer song featuring the coolest guitar solos on the album. 

The bass work is subtle but appreciated. Some Harris influences but not too much, the opening track and 4th single "Cthulhu Wakes" is a good example of some cool bass lines. Overall a very catchy song and good choice as opening track. And also the ending is typical Maiden, very nice reference. 

"Empires Fall" lyrics are at least intriguing, no it's not about Rome or anything like that, it's actually about heavy metal with the lyrics making references to Iron Maiden, Metallica and many others. Now I am not sure if they are implying that metal is dying or it will eventually die? Overall not my favorite song on the album and certainly the worse of the 5 singles. But still enjoyable.

The Picky Guy

Now my only complain about this album is actually quite unfair and personal. Rob Thorne's voice sometimes reminds me of Volbeat's singer and I hate it. But gradually I am getting over it and used to hear it for what it is without bad associations. With that said, I would like to actually have more of his harsher voice, for example in "Last Ride Of The Wicked Dead" his screams are so raw and energetic. It's one of my favorite songs on the album. Final critique, the second half of the album looses a bit of steam, but recovers will by closing with "Root Of All Evil"

Wrap Up Opinion 

Return Of The Dragon is a very good pure metal album without any frills and yet diversified with no creativity boundaries. While not super original, Sacred Oath creates an interesting mix of styles that captures the attention and it's lots of fun. For all those reasons I'm giving it 82/100, if you just want some good old traditional metal with touch of modern metal, then Return Of The Dragon is the way to go.

SCORE: 82/100

Genre: Heavy Metal

Released as Angel Thorne Music/SRGILS/Virgin/UMG (Independent) on April 2nd, 2021

Rating System

99 - 100 Perfect
94 - 98 Excellent
87 - 93 Great
82 - 86 Very Good
77 - 81 Good
66 - 76 Mixed
58 - 65 Bad

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