Sacred Steel

For fourteen years SACRED STEEL have been offering the metalhead a deadly trend-free alternative to blown-up trigger drums, cheesy keyboards and boring cliché sounds which are hyped to be „the next big thing in metal" year after year.
Already with their debut album „Reborn In Steel" (first ever German band being signed to Metal Blade Records in 1997) the band followed their path, never forgot their roots and emerged their sound!



The 2nd album „Wargods Of Metal" was recorded in 1998 with legendary producer Bill Metoyer (a.o. Slayer, Omen, Sacred Reich) and enjoys a cult status with the metal fans since then.
In the year 2000, releasing their third strike "Bloodlust" the band proved its ability to write more matured songs and combining them in an epical concept story. In addition the band acclaimed a high number of fans by intensive touring through all of Europe playing with bands like Nevermore, Wardog, Lefay, Destinys End, Nocturnal Rites, Children of Bodom and Primal Fear.
The opener and title track of the following album "Slaughter Prophecy", a brutal metal slasher, could only have one meaning: a clear and definite statement against a wimpy power metal genre with many bands following cheesy keyboards, boring melody hooks, programmed computer drums and happy metal! Where other bands wimped out the sledgehammer still reigned at the SACRED STEEL camp! They weren't even afraid to include death metal elements in their sound following some of their faves as Morbid Angel or Death. The result was an ultra-heavy dark and raw piece of hate being released with great success by their new label Massacre Records.
They followed this path, although a little more melodic on album no. 5 "Iron Blessings", which was released in 2004 and got the best reviews in the bands history.
After five studio albums it was time to catch the raw intensity of the SACRED STEEL live shows, so in early 2006 the Live DVD/double-CD "Live Blessings" proved yet again, that SACRED STEEL are a band which does not fit into the usual conventions. No perfectly-set, art-directed performance but a raw, authentic beer and sweat driven show in their hometown Ludwigsburg where you can sometimes not see the band being covered by dozens of stagedivers – that's exactly the „all for one – one for all" attitude which keeps the band and their fans that close together! The DVD shows one of the the last gigs of the line up, which has not been changed on all albums. Both founding members and guitarists Jörg M. Knittel and Oli Grosshans decided to leave the band.
What first looked like the end of the band turned out into a triumphant rebirth of SACRED STEEL. Bassist Jens changed to the guitar and new members Jonas Khalil as new guitarist and Kai Schindelar on bass could be added within a short time!
The first result of the new line up "Hammer of Destruction" was released 2006 and is screaming to be worshipped! Following a vinyl-sound intro the infernal title track hammers down everything. The massive and organic sound was done by nobody less than Harris Johns, who in the past recorded a lot of the bands favourites like Saint Vitus, Voivod, Kreator, early Helloween or Tankard and is know for his authentic 80's sound. The high-speed smasher "Maniacs of Speed" was chosen for the band's first ever video clip.
After that the respectable fanbase of SACRED STEEL had to wait for three long years but in the fall of 2009 their victorious massacre "Carnage Victory" finally found its way to the battlefields of the metal community. The band was not lazy though as they performed more live shows than in the six years of their previous career. The bandvan stopped a.o. in Greece, Italy, France, Sweden, Poland and Spain as well as on the Swordbrothers festival, Thrash Assault or the Summer Breeze Open Air. The new lineup turned into a real team within this time.
As "Hammer Of Destruction" was almost a debut for the new lineup with all its raw power that such albums typically unleash the band showed really matured on album number seven "Carnage Victory". The release of "Carnage Victory" was supported by another massive live offensive bringing the band for the first time to countries like Croatia, Serbia or Slovenia and back to important Festivals like Rock Hard Festival or Bang Your Head.
In 2010 the band has currently been working on new material for their 8th studio album to see the light in 2011.
SACRED STEEL is a trademark in the metal scene: all METAL with an own attitude, never everybody's darling – and damned proud of it!