Album Review: Sacred Monster – Worship the Weird (Self Released)

Sacred Monster is pleased to release its first full-length album, “Worship the Weird”! Featuring eight tracks of riff-oriented metal blending influences of doom, thrash, NWOBHM and traditional metal.

Worship the Weird takes listeners on a chilling journey through subjects ranging from Stephen King’s The Dark Tower (“Face of my Father”) to the classic Twilight Zone episode ‘Nightmare at 20,000 Feet’, and stories devised by the band themselves (“Waverly Hills”, “The Wraith”).

In their own words:

“Brothers, sisters and fish-people: Celebrate with us the unexplainable and the inescapable; the shapes just outside the corner of your eye. Pay tribute to the beasts that haunt your dreams and their creators. Join with us in wicked ceremony to give praise to the things that lurk below, outside space, and just beyond your door. Come, raise your hands! Let your mouths utter platitudes in twisted, torturous tongues! Come; and worship the weird.”

Worship the Weird is out on March 1st 2019.

Doomy riffs introduce us to Sacred Monster as High Confessor opens the record in style. The methodical pacing of the guitars mixed with scratchy and evil sounding vocals works so well. It’s a very intriguing start as it’s clear Sacred Monster aren’t going to be constrained by sticking to one specific sub-genre of metal.

Don’t believe me? Check out the doom and NWOBHM mash-up that is The Wraith and the groovy rhythm of Nightmare at 20,000 Feet. Both tracks live comfortably alongside each other but also sound very different to each other. Worship the Weird indeed.

The horror motifs are very welcome for a website like ours adding a tongue in cheek touch to the likes of Re-Animator, The Mothman Lives and Waverly Hills, the latter’s high-pitched vocals sharp enough to smash glass.

However, to get a song dedicated to Stephen King’s The Dark Tower is something that puts a smile on our faces. The series is a GBHBL favourite and Sacred Monster do it justice with meaty riffs, death metal vocals and lyrics that tell parts of the story. The chorus of “I have forgotten the face of my father” is something you just want to sing along with.

All good things must come to an end though but is it any surprise that a winding riff and hungry sounding vocals is what sees us out on Maze of Dreams? Sacred Monster has crafted a special record here that never bores.

Sacred Monster – Worship the Weird Full Track Listing:

1. High Confessor
2. The Wraith
3. Nightmare at 20,000 Feet
4. Re-Animator
5. Waverly Hills
6. Face of My Father
7. The Mothman Lives
8. Maze of Dreams

The album can be ordered via Bandcamp and more information about Sacred Monster can be found on their Facebook Page.